Connected Generations Towneley Trip
18th June 2026Summer 2026 - our busiest yet?!
From our intergenerational seaside trip to St. Anne's, to Summer Van Jam sessions & HAF fun days in the parks, this summer has been packed full of activities for our Change Makers.
We're lucky to have some new recruits to our Change Makers group, so we kicked off the summer holidays with a trip to Lucardo Escape Rooms in Rawtenstall, who generously gave us a discount. This gave the young people a chance to get to know each other better with a fun & challenging team-building activity, ahead of a busy summer of volunteering.
The 28th July brought our first Summer Van Jam session at Rakehead - an opportunity for all ages to get involved in sports activities, crafts, games, glitter tattoos etc, supported by our Change Makers Shaan, Grace & Mia-Rose. We saw great engagement from the community, with lots of children & their parents coming along to see what we were up to. Both Asda & Burnley Together kindly donated food so we were able to provide sandwiches, snacks & fruit.
A couple of days later we also attended the HAF Family Fun Day in Queen's Park, where we took along the Van and 7 Change Makers, supporting the event with sports, games & crafts. The bubble machine was a hit! Lynne has also been spending the summer visiting each of the HAF providers & has loved seeing hundreds of Burnley schoolchildren enjoying the wide range of holiday camps on offer across the town.
On 4th August we packed our buckets & spades and headed off to St. Anne's with our lovely friends from Dovestone Gardens, 31 of us in total. Since the beginning of our Connected Generations project, our young people have wanted to take Dovestone's residents on a trip to the seaside - so we planned it in, and what a wonderful day we all had. The weather was miraculously perfect after a dubious forecast, Moving People provided a fantastic bus service for us, and we enjoyed a fish & chip lunch at The View on the seafront. We broke off into groups to enjoy exploring the town, walking to the sea, playing in the arcades on the pier or sitting in the sunshine listening to music outside the Inn on the Prom, who provided a base for us throughout the day. We received thank you cards from residents, who so appreciated the opportunity, and the young people loved the day too. Our intergenerational friendships are strengthened through these shared experiences, and we are so thankful to The National Lottery Community Fund for making this project possible.
The very next day, 6 Change Makers joined Emma & Lynne in Burnley town centre for National Play Day, taking the Van along as one of the venues for activities taking place across town throughout the day. Despite the mixed weather, we engaged with lots of families with a fun badge-making activity & glitter tattoos, which always goes down well with the children! We also had a packed team of 6 Change Makers with Emma & Rachel for the 2nd of our Summer Van Jam sessions on 11th August at Lockyer Avenue. Phew!
We're thankful to work with a great group of young people who are willing to volunteer their time with us, gaining skills & experience whilst also benefiting us as an organisation. With some of our Change Makers moving on to apprenticeships & new courses, we have vacancies for young people aged 14-18 to join us on a range of different projects - click the link to sign up > Change Makers Sign up form – Fill in form
