Our Holiday Activities Programme Over The Festive Season.

We had a surprise for families we have been working with throughout the year - on our Holiday Activities Programme - to bring them together to celebrate the festive season. 

The families we have been working with are currently living in temporary accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees, and come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures and the children range in age from toddlers to teens. We wanted to find a way to celebrate that would be appropriate and enjoyable for all. 

We were grateful to receive funding from The St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, who fund small and medium sized charities across the UK and overseas working with children who are disadvantaged physically, socially or economically. With this funding and with the Nottingham Playhouse discounted tickets for charities, we were able to get 70 tickets to take the families to the Panto to see Nottingham Playhouses wonderful production of Jack and the Beanstalk! 

We spent two days with each group. The first group we met the day before the show and discussed what a Pantomime was, what to expect and what it might look like. To think about this we made tiny theatre sets for our favorite stories using tiny cardboard boxes, coloured card, collage materials, pom poms, felt, painting and drawing. The children created sets for; Frozen, Goldie locks, Jack and the Beanstalk and Spiderman.

The next day we arrived early with breakfast to get the group ready for the 10 am show at the Theatre. We had asked the day before what they would like, and we arrived with chocolate pancakes, strawberries, yoghurt, cereal, bananas, jam sandwiches, cereal bars and fresh juice. We all ate breakfast together and prepared for the coach to pick us up from Redfern Travel. 

We got to the theater, many of the children had not experienced anything like it before. They were awed by the set and lights instantly. With our group of 27 we all found our seats and the show kicked off. It was a brilliant show filled with laughter, songs and games, the children joined in singing along, dancing and shouting out the classics ‘It’s behind you!’ and ‘Ohhh no you didn’t…’. Even the youngest in the group were entranced by the performance and were able to sit happily through both acts, they thoroughly enjoyed the show and all of the engagement from the cast. When we reached the intermission one child asked;  “Is it over?” When we told her that there was another hour after the break she screamed with excitement and said “yess! I am so happy right now!”

One of the parents who were new to the programme, said at the end of the show “thank you so much for all that you are doing for us, this has made our children so happy, and made our day, you have a lot of kindness in your hearts”

For many in the group, this was their first experience of the theatre and the costumes, sets, songs and jokes made a huge impression on them. As we left the theatre the children were singing the songs, quoting the actors and mimicking the dances from the show. We managed to get everyone together before we left, for a group photo in front of the Sky Mirror.

With the second group we decided to do the same activity on the first day of meeting with them, to discuss what to expect at the theatre and explore the ideas in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. They joined us for lunch and then each made their own tiny theater set, mostly concentrating on Jack and the Beanstalk, they made tiny barn houses, beanstalks, Jack, giants, cows, fields and clouds. We talked about how the theatre works and how they can join in during the show.

The next day, we met with the group for lunch, delivered from Mrs Bunns Cob Emporium, and created sketchbooks while waiting to set off for the show. When it was time we walked together to the Nottingham Playhouse. The children and parents were all excited to see what was in store. We arrived at the Playhouse and made our way to our seats, with a group of 25 this time. The children and parents loved the show and sang along to the songs, engaged with the characters shouting out “Ay up Billy” on que and danced to the music throughout! The show was great for all ages and even translated across language barriers, with some of the young people having limited English, they still laughed along at the jokes, physical humour and songs. As the children left the stalls at the end of the show they rushed to tell us their favourite parts of the show, and talk about their favorite characters - the Pantomime Dame and the ghost were particularly favourites. 

It has been a real pleasure getting to know and working with these families throughout the year, the nature of their situation means that they are constantly in transition and many of them we have met have moved or been housed elsewhere which means we may lose touch. We wish them all the best for the new year and hope to see them again in the future! 

At Ignite! we are passionate about helping these families feel welcome, and encouraging them to engage with and feel a part of the culture and history in the city, we believe that these visits to the pantomime helped them to experience local talent and culture. We are so happy that thanks to the generous funding from St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation and support from Nottingham Playhouse, that we were able to celebrate the end of the year with these families and bring them together to enjoy this experience. We are looking forward to working with them again soon and some of them during our weekly after school sessions.