Rotary KidsOut Day Whipsnade

National Rotary KidsOut Day Out

The first National Rotary KidsOut Day took place in 1990 and since then it has turned into the biggest single outing for disadvantaged children in the UK. With more than 29,000 children participating in 2016, the National Day Out is run in conjunction with Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. To make the National Rotary KidsOut Day the success that it is, more than 10,000 Rotarians volunteer on the day at over 100 venues. Whether they live with critical health issues, in refuge or with a disability, children across the country are taken on a fun day out to the zoo, a theme park or even the seaside, often for the first time in their lives. Through these initiatives KidsOut has taken hundreds of thousands of children on a fun day and provided thousands more with a Toy Box.Whatever their disadvantage, KidsOut brings fun and excitement into children’s lives as well as hope for a better future. Believing that every young person has a right to happiness, through its life-changing work KidsOut plays a key role in shaping the future for the better.

Having Fun at bird display

Thanks to the support of ZSL Whipsnade and the Rotary Club of Dunstable, clubs from  Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire made a special day out for 750 kids with a picnic lunch and a visit to the Zoo. This year Leighton Linslade joined with children and teachers from Oak Bank School on a glorious summers day to enjoy the wide expanse of Whipsnade and its many activities. The day was a fantastic success, it was wonderful to meet with children as they returned tired and happy after a day of sharing the joys of a day out in the countryside and the excitement of the zoo.
We send thanks to our community in supporting all our activities.  With your fantastic support it is possible to finance KidsOut special activities.

Childline

Supporting the care of children has long been a goal of Rotary. Our club has just completed a major project to support Childline locally;

Childline is run by the NSPCC and in the first few days following the outrage in Manchester ran over 120 counselling sessions for children.

• Children found the incident scary and they were worried about further attacks taking place and affecting themselves or their friends/family
• Some children were worried to go out in public, or worried about events they had planned in the future
• Children who lived in Manchester were scared that a terror attack could take place close to home, some said that they had not thought terror attacks were a threat to them before but they were now concerned
• Children who were at the concert were worried about the safety of the people who were missing, were shaken up after the event, and were upset about the loss of life
• Some children experienced racist bullying after the attack
• Overall children were distressed, anxious and upset about the event

These are comments made by children, all names and potentially identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of the child or young person. Quotes are created from real Childline contacts but are not necessarily direct quotes from the young person.

I was meant to go to the concert last night but didn’t. I keep thinking “what if?”. I know I was lucky I wasn’t there but I feel guilty. I have anxiety issues and what happened has made me worry about the same thing happening at concerts in the future.  – Girl, 16-18

I’m so scared and fed up of everything that is happening, with the attack in Manchester last night and the attack in London in March, I don’t really want to leave the house. I don’t feel safe.  I’m meant to go to a concert later this year and now I don’t want to – Girl, age unknown

I keep thinking ‘what if that happened to me?’ and it’s making me scared to go to sleep. It’s very scary because most of the people that got hurt were my age. I can’t stop thinking about the missing people. I keep looking on Twitter for updates but they’re making me feel even worse. – Girl, 16-18

I’m upset because people are making racist comments to me today and talking about the Manchester attack. It’s annoying and unfair because I have nothing to do with the attack. People shouldn’t jump to conclusions and assume that just because someone is a Muslim they are a terrorist. It isn’t fair, Boy, 12

“I feel quite angry that people think that all terrorists are Muslims and I don’t think people should be judged on the colour of their skin. At school today I felt very awkward because of my race. I’m finding the situation really stressful and I need help dealing with it. – Girl, Secondary School Age

May Fayre Fun

Thanks to all in Leighton Linslade for your support of our very special May Day Fayre. The weather was changeable yet thousands of people joined us to have fun in the High Street and Recreation ground.

This year our main displays were the fantastic Knights of the Crusades display together with a falconry display and a chance to see other wonderful birds.

View from the Helter Skelter

Many people flooded the High Street to enjoy Tom Smiths Fair or all the varied entertainment at the Market Cross throughout the day.

The May Fayre is about having fun in our town and raising money to support community activities.

We have many stalls run by volunteers promoting activities such as the scouts or the canoe club; others are raising awareness of our history or providing support to others.

All of us from Rotary send our thanks to the many thousands that attended. We are already starting to plan for next year and would welcome your ideas on how we can make the May Fayre even better.