Derry~Londonderry Heroes Project YMCA

Our HEROES group had a trip to the Ulster American Folk park to experience traditional Halloween festivities. For this trip the Mencap HEROES from Fermanagh and Derry~Londonderry came along as well. We got to have some tasty pancakes and learnt about different Halloween traditions in Ireland and America. The highlight was getting to carve our own pumpkins!

Our HEROES group went on a one night residential to Woodhall last week. The group did loads of different activities such as crate stacking, team games, archery and orienteering. We even made smores over a campfire!

Check out our group doing some Ceili Dancing!

We have had lots of fun getting to know our new group through different games and activities. The HEROES staff shared some of their interests with the group and showed them how to make scones, planted succulents and made bookmarks!

Welcome to the Heroes Project!  From now until the end of March we are very lucky to have again got the chance to work with an amazing group of young people from The Hub at the Playtrail. Our first session went really well and we got to learn about each other. We did some icebreakers and had loads of fun. Robert shared one of his interests, baking, and the group got to make and most importantly taste, delicious scones. We are very excited to be working with another group of amazing young people, and we can't wait to see what we will get up to during our time together. 

YMCA Visit The Heroes recently enjoyed a trip to the YMCA to make use of the facilities out there. They played a basketball game called hotspot with Aurora coming out as the champion twice. They also played boccia a Paralympic sport with no Olympic equivalent which is similar to bowls. In the kitchen the group got to make fifteens, a Northern Ireland delicacy consisting of digestive biscuits, marshmallows and glacé cherries mixed in condensed milk and coated in coconut. The games room provided a chill out space, and the group got to play the PlayStation and try out Guitar Hero on the Wii. 

Walls Scavenger Hunt Adventure The YMCA Heroes group were out and about exploring the city for two sessions in October. The group followed an interactive scavenger hunt and faced many challenges including taking pictures, answering questions and following directional arrows. Whilst on the adventure the group got to learn about their city as they stopped at notable sights such as the Guildhall, Walkers Plinth and the Courthouse. We also did a bit of geocaching and found one hidden at St Augustine's Church. As it was quite a cold day we stopped off at the Quirky Raven café for some hot drinks!  On our second day out we started at the Diamond War Memorial and learnt how old Austin's department store is. We went into the garden of reflection and stopped at the Honesty Café as it was raining and we got to enjoy buns and a drink.