The program brought together service children from Newport, Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Powys and Caerphilly, it was funded by Welsh Government funding to Support Service children in Education.

The residential three-day retreat was a huge success it was the first retreat of its kind for Service children residing in Wales. The Three-day program focused on team building, communication, Improving their Health and Well-being, making new friendships and sharing experiences whilst embracing the great doors.  Held at Amelia Trust Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan and supported by Welsh Guards, Woodys Lodge and Leigh Gwyther.  We were very privileged to have Captain Ian Moore of the Royal Welsh and the Armed Forces Champion Cllr Lisa Dymock from Monmouthshire County Council attend to present the attendees with awards at the end!  

 

Below is snapshot of some of the feedback and stats from the retreat!

 

Attendees who wanted to come back – 100%

Attendees who would recommend this to their friends – 100%

All rated the instructor team as Good to Excellent!

All Attendees rated the activities Good to Excellent!

 

“I enjoyed making friends and having a chance to do fun activities. I also enjoyed the movie night and water fight because it was fun to do with other people.”

“I liked it a lot and it was lovely opportunity to meet children just like me!”

“I enjoyed everything. I liked the animal trip and den building”

” Thanks very much to the team who put this three day retreat for the kids. Elinor has had an amazing time and has not stopped talking about her adventure at Woodys lodge since she git home”

“Thank you to everyone involved in the Activity Retreat. To see Jake smiling and being confident enough to talk to you for an interview is amazing, Jake’s feedback was ” it was awesome and better than what I thought it would be. It was so nice talking to other children who understand the armed forces and being able to talk about their experiences”

 

Sean Molino BCA (Managing Director Forces Fitness Ltd) ”  This was such a fantastic activity retreat for some truly amazing children, I honestly loved hearing all their stories and about their life experiences and to see them all getting on so well was absolutely brilliant!! I would like to personally thank everyone involved in making this happen for our service children in Wales, thanks to the Welsh Government and the Councils who we have worked with on making this happen, but most importantly thanks to the amazing children who took part on this activity retreat, they were brilliant!  Lets hope that this is the first of many that can have a positive effect on our children’s health and well-being!

 

Jody Lewis (SSCE Cymru) ” Having the opportunity to plan and support this weekend has been fantastic. The SSCE Cymru team thoroughly enjoyed being involved in discussions with the children and finding out what support they would like from us and their schools. As a military spouse, military mum and an ex primary school teacher, I have been blown away by the benefits and the positive impact that this weekend has had on all these children. We are hoping that these residentials will become an annual event that more Service children in Wales can take advantage of”

 

Armed Forces Champion Cllr Lisa Dymock (Monmouthshire County Council)   “When you you think about health and well-being this is perfect it really supports these children.  I am also an ex service child and it can be very lonely, most children don’t experience what we do when our parents are away for long periods of time in the Armed Forces, so I really support this program, its been a brilliant!”

Forces Fitness is a multi-award winning company including the Education Award at the National Fitness Awards and GOLD ERS Awards holder received from the MOD that provide a number services from Outdoor Boot camp sessions, Employability Bootcamps, Health and Well-Being workshops and Full Board Residential Boot camps. They also work closely with many businesses, organisations, sports clubs, schools, colleges and universities. All their sessions are instructed by either ex or serving members of the armed forces. www.forcesfitness.co.uk

Supporting Service Children in Education (SSCE) Cymru is a Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) programme. The SSCE Cymru mission is to provide the best possible educational support to Service children in Wales. www.SSCECymru.co.uk