Cricket, Community, and Cooking: Four Days of Fun at the Newcastle Easter Camp

Welcome to the vibrant recap of our four-day HAF Easter Camp, a true celebration of cricket and community, held at the DiverCity Hub in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne. This special event, designed to foster inclusivity and unity, brought together 19 spirited children from diverse backgrounds. It was a unique opportunity for them to immerse themselves in the sport, develop new skills, and forge lasting friendships. Join us as we journey through each day's unique blend of cricket, culinary arts, and educational fun, all made possible by the support of Newcastle City Council, StreetGames UK, and the Department for Education.

Over the four days, we had a total of 19 kids turn up, 15 of whom were from ethnic minority backgrounds, including Indian, Bangladeshi, African and Pakistani.

The youngest of the lot was born in was four years old, and the oldest was 13 years old. The kids were from 8 different schools across the Newcastle City Council, which was good to see as the kids were making new friends from other schools.

Day 1 

On the first day of the Easter camp, we had seven children turn up for their first fun day of cricket. The Easter camp was held at the DiverCity Hub in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, a fantastic venue we use every Monday for our sessions with people with Parkinson’s.  The Cricketqube team was familiar with the venue, so we had some excellent games and fielding drills for the session. We started with a game of cricket. This got the kids hyped up for the session with some competitiveness right from the start. Using plastic balls and soft bats, we started with one batter being bowled at and having to run around the cones to score runs. We then did a fielding drill with the kids, teaching them how to catch, throw and field the ball correctly. 

Once the kids started to run out of energy, we had Jennifer Fingland MRCVS - our special guest vet, come in,  and she gave a very interesting talk to the kids, enhanced them on how they take care of the pets and give insights into the life of a vet. This kept the kids busy as they were glued to their seats and had many questions to ask the vet. They then had lunch and played more cricket before heading home for some rest.

Day 2 

The second day, more kids were introduced to the session, and over 14 kids turned up. The session was similar to the first day, starting with a game of cricket, which lasted a little longer due to the higher number in attendance.

Day 2 was enjoyed even more by the kids as the cricket coaches were able to have a group each and have competitive fielding drill games. This excited the kids as they were now competing against each other, and the standard seemed to jump even higher.

Day 3  

The third day was again a massive success, with a dozen kids turning up. The kids were so excited from the day before they came straight in, picked up bats and balls, and knew how to get on instantly.  After an hour and a half of cricket, the staff from HealthWorks, a Newcastle-based charity, presented the kids with a delightful cooking lesson. Three kind, amazing HealthWorks staff members engaged with the kids and helped them make kids own lunch for the day, consisting of chicken fajitas and dessert. 

The staff also gave the kids some knowledge of nutritious food, which they were very interested in. After lunch, the kids were introduced to dodgeball, which was full of energy after the kids had just enjoyed lunch.

Day 4

The final day started with the moods again high spirits with some dodgeball and then into some batting and bowling lessons. Towards the end of the session, the kids realised it was the last day, and they enjoyed it so much that they wanted to keep going. Many of the parents took our details and wanted us to deliver these lessons during the school term as well!

The sessions were an overall success as at the end of the session; we asked the kids if they wanted to come back for a weekly session; they were over the moon to hear this, and so were the parents, as they were amazed to see how much the kids enjoyed the session. 

Feedback

The feedback we had from the session was amazing, with one of the mum's texts saying, “The kids enjoyed the session so much and they have been ranting about how good Jack [Cricketqube team member] was and they can not wait to be back.”