Our VIP evening took place at the Royal Hotel, Scarborough … and it was FANTASTIC!
After months of planning, it all came together and everyone had a brilliant time.
From rocking to Tina Turner to ‘Doing the time-warp again’, we danced the night away under the disco lights … and some of us removed our shoes and really got ‘into the groove’!
So, what was it all about?
Back in the spring, we had a great idea (well, it seemed so at the time!) of having a VIP evening, celebrating the wonderful achievements of our learners past and present.
We decided on a special 1920s theme, booked the Royal Hotel in Scarborough and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
The whole team at Futureworks got involved … from sourcing the prom dresses to coming up with the menu and menu designs; setting the table decorations, deciding the seating plan; booking the entertainment, helping with the chair designs … and it all went like clockwork!
We were all nervous yet we had a positive energy. Everything started to take shape as the black and gold balloons arrived, and the fabulous feather decorations helped the tables look beautiful. We had golden chocolate coins, specially branded toffee souvenirs and even small bars of gold (not real, unfortunately) to help set the scene.
The evening started at 7pm and we gave out six of our awards before the first course was served. This got the evening off to a fun start.
We all enjoyed our starters and then we had another set of awards before the main course. We would like to thank the staff at the Royal Hotel as the service was very good and the food was really tasty.
The Hatton School of Dance performed a fantastic Charleston routine, with singing, amazing outfits and some incredible dance moves which included tap dancing. So much effort went into it and it was amazing. Thank you!
Other local companies that were there included Boyes and Crown Decorating, and these were just some of our supporters from the local area.
We then had our desserts and the last of the awards … #emotional. It is fair to say that those of us who could indulge in a few alcoholic tipples did so, and most of us headed to the dance floor as the DJ played some party classics.
Everyone started to throw some shapes on the dance floor as the evening progressed … and many of them were very interesting shapes indeed. Some of the napkins doubled up as bandanas and the feathers were up-cycled into some fantastic headgear. Weird yet wonderful!
It wouldn’t be a party night without some singing … the Spice Girls, anyone?
So was it worth it? Absolutely!
We would like to thank everybody involved and also to all our guests. It was a way of thanking you, too.
June is here … long daylight hours … summer on the horizon … and another Community Works 12-week workshop session is due to start!
Kink, our office pooch, knows when it’s time for our next workshop session as there’s the chance of extra custard creams in the biscuit tin: everyone needs to keep their energy levels up!
So, what are we talking about? What’s this 12-week workshop ‘thing’ all about?
Part of our Community Works project (18 to 25 years olds), we’ve had some Big Lottery funding so young adults can learn some practical skills that will help them throughout their lives.
We, the Futureworks team (Kink included although his spanner skills leave a lot to be desired) help young people learn woodwork, basic plumbing and electrical skills … let’s face it, all of us will need to fix a tap, wire a plug and put up a few shelves as we make our way through life!
Our learners are fully supported by tutors who have years’ experience (sometimes too many to mention) and there are no minimum requirements to join. To make the learning even more fun, we keep the groups small and very welcoming.
And then there’s the community bit!
So you’ve got your kit, you know what to do with it … now it’s time to help people in the big, wide world!
This is nothing to worry about though. Our fully supportive team help leaners to help others and get a great sense of achievement. Some of our Scarborough residents need a bit of assistance here and there and our learners are ready to help where they can.
Our workshops have lots of different goals and outcomes. We help in the wider community. We help our learners develop practical skills. Our learners also gain confidence in a world that can have its challenges.
The learners acquire their skills in a fully supported way with no such thing as a ‘daft question’.
And our next one is due to start June 2019!
Does this sound like something you could join? Are you aged between 18 and 25? Then we’d love to hear from you! You can phone us on 01723 449616, or email us info@futureworksny.co.uk- we’d love to hear from you!
Well, you can probably imagine it … we’re in the mini-bus, perhaps feeling just that bit too excited as we made our way to Carlton Lodge, near Thirsk.
That’s where the sensibleness ended!
So what does Carlton Lodge do? And why did we go? And, more importantly, did we survive it ?!?!
It’s an activity centre about an hour’s drive from Scarborough.
The site includes tree climbing, axe-throwing, archery, kayaking and high ropes. Definitely a challenge if you’re not a fan of the great outdoors … however, most of us enjoy fresh air, blue skies (if we’re lucky) and the occasional dip in the water…
So we arrived and our energy levels just about bursting out of the mini-bus!
Like a bunch of excited teenagers … actually, most of us were an excited bunch of teenagers LOL … we checked in and headed for the water area.
Zip wire was the first activity, everyone was scared it was hard climbing the pole onto the platform but everyone managed it with lots of encouragement and positive vibes! Next on the activity list, raft building and kayaking.
So if you think of boating as being chilled out like Peasholm Lake and the laid-back dragon pedaloes, think again! All the water-based sports need safety kit and training before choosing your boat, donning your helmet and picking up your paddle!
And not only had water underneath the kayaks, we also had a dousing of rain from above. To be honest, we couldn’t have got any wetter if we’d tried.
And that’s when the fun began, because we all started to laugh … particularly when Sarah managed to roll in her kayak and go underwater. Sarah surfaced with a smile on her face!
After a meal and a bit of sleep, we then tackled axe-throwing and archery.
Axe-throwing is dangerous and you need a good eye … yet we were all okay … and then we came to the archery.
Believe it or not, this is actually quite hard! When you see it on the TV, it looks so easy as in archery they pull back the bow and let the arrow fly.
It’s no wonder it’s an Olympic sport because most of us had sore fingers and arms at the end of it.
Carlton Lodge offers lots of problem-solving activities, so there’s lots to do and we loved our visit.
We feel we hit the bulls-eye with this particular trip as we had a such a laugh, got out into the fresh air and learned to work as a team as well as acquire some new skills.
We’d like to thank the team at Carlton Lodge … we’re sure ‘we’ll be back!’
