Generous donations bring summer fun for Bridgend young carers

• Hollywood Bowling and Folly Farm among trips courtesy of funds raised by Choirs in the Community, Coop and Porthcawl Lions
• Time away from caring role vital to young people and often their only break

A group of youngsters from Action for Children’s Bridgend Young Carers project has enjoyed a summer of fun at places such as Cardiff Bay’s Hollywood Bowling and Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire as well as tubing at Ebbw Vale Festival Park. The trips were made possible thanks to money raised by Choirs in the Community, the Coop and the Porthcawl Lions who also funded two young carers to go on a PGL holiday in Wiltshire.

The trips allowed them to have a proper break from their caring responsibilities as a recent Action for Children and Carers Trust survey found that nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of Welsh young carers feel lonely during the summer holidays and over a third (35 per cent) spend more than four hours a day during the summer caring for a relative – the equivalent of losing an entire week of their holidays.

Eryn Evans (16) from Bridgend, a young carer who looks after her mother, often for over four hours a day, said: ‘The trips are really important as it’s a break from having to be in the house all the time and not always being able to go out so it’s a time for socialising with the young carers group who are really good.

’It’s also important for me to socialise with young people with similar responsibilities because I was quiet and didn’t have much of a social life but since coming to Bridgend Young Carers I’ve got more friends and become more open about myself. You bond more with people who are going through the same thing and it’s really nice.’

Action for Children’s Bridgend Young Carers project provides a range of practical support to young carers which reduces the impact of their caring role on their own childhood and adolescent development. The projects also works to raise awareness and recognition of the needs of young carers in the Bridgend area and to develop and improve services for them and their families.

Lois Griffiths, young persons’ practitioner at Bridgend Young Carers, said: ‘It’s very important our young carers get to enjoy these trips out because at home they’re not just teenagers going through all the usual teenage things that they have to put up with like exams and peer pressure.

‘They also go home and it’s non-stop looking after their family members. It’s a constant overload of stuff so coming away on these trips is imperative for them to shut off from the world and enjoy time together. We are so grateful to Choirs in the Community, our local Coop and the Porthcawl Lions for raising the money for us to give a break to those who need it most in our communities.’