YOUNG carers from Boscombe learnt how to catch a chicken on a fun day out at Longdown Activity Farm in Ashhurst. Twelve carers from Bethany School in Boscombe visited the farm and learnt how to catch and hold a chicken safely, thanks to farmer Bryan Pass.
Young carers from Bethany School visited Longdown Activity Farm This day out was organised by the Wessex branch of Variety The Children’s Charity and was the first Variety Wessex outing since lockdown restrictions began in March 2020. Pastoral lead at Bethany School, Liz Rawson-Jones said: I just want to say an enormous thank you to Variety for an incredible day out at Longdown Farm.
Ten lucky children from Bournemouth enjoyed a morning of angling at Orchard Lakes Fishing Lake near New Milton in Hampshire, all thanks to Variety The Children’s Charity. It is the sixteenth year that these regular fishing events have taken place and organiser John Stein, from the Variety Wessex committee, says that more than 700 youngsters have benefitted from the scheme. John, himself a keen freshwater fisherman, along with professional angling coach Bob McMahon from Fun2Fish, give the participants tuition and tips on how to fish so that they get the most from these introductory sessions. The lake is designed to be a perfect place for learning. It contains thousands of fish that include carp, chub, roach and rudd and it is hoped that, during the session, every child will land a fish. Of course all the fish that are caught are quickly returned to the water.
More than a thousand Chocolate eggs brought smiles to children at three Dorset schools. The Easter eggs, donated by Variety The Children’s Charity, were distributed at the end of term to lucky pupils at Bethany Junior School in Boscombe, Linwood School in Bournemouth and Beaucroft Foundation School in Wimborne. Variety has also provided a series of Zoom entertainment shows for the children with breath-taking tricks from juggler Pete Matthews and marvellous magic from Krazy Kev with his rabbit. The Zoom shows and Easter eggs were organised by the local Variety branch. Frances Cornelius, chair of Variety Wessex, thanked everyone who contributed to making these Easter events possible:
Crazy Juggler Pete Matthews entertained teachers, carers and Variety The Children’s Charity supporters and friends with a hilarious Zoom presentation live from the dining room of his Dorset home. The show, that was organised by Frances Cornelius, chair of Variety Wessex, found the acrobatic entertainer not only juggling with clubs and spinning plates, but also balancing on a unicycle while juggling with five cutlasses. How on earth his ceiling stayed in tact was something of a miracle! Pete and children’s entertainer Krazy Kev, entertained local schools with both live and online shows at Christmas and will be putting on a series of Zoom shows for them in the run up to Easter. Krazy Kev will be joined by Popcorn, his magic white rabbit, that appears when the children chant the spell ‘Wibbly Wobbly Woo’.