West Dunbartonshire Council's school holiday programme supports thousands of kids

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Families across West Dunbartonshire benefited from a record number of free summer holiday activities and lunches this year.The council invested £100,000 to ensure there was a range of free events for children and young people to participate in during the holiday period.The popular programme, which saw local groups bidding for funding to host events, offered 13,000 places, including places for children with additional support needs and supplied more than 16,000 lunches and snacks.Funding enabled Bellsmyre Digital to run virtual reality and gaming sessions, which were attended by 240 young people, while 65 young people enjoyed training at the Vale of Leven Football Academy.The Cutty Sark Centre held activities for over 600 participants and Haldane Youth Services offered 48 local events including breakfast clubs, family lunch clubs, BBQs and fun activity sessions attracting well over 1,000 participants.Rock Community Church’s Olympic themed family sessions at the Phoenix Centre welcomed 600 local children and their families.Strathclyde Autistic Society provided activities and trips for 600 children and young people with autism and their families.West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare supported the programme by providing 700 families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis with brunch bags that covered breakfast and lunch for a week.The Council received overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and carers of children who attended the summer programme.Laura Mason, chief education officer at WDC, said: “A huge amount of work goes in to organising the programme and I would like to thank everyone involved in offering an extensive range of engaging activities at no cost to parents.“It is particularly pleasing to hear the