Two Camps, 71 Children: Our Summer 2026 HAF Wrap Up
This summer we ran Holiday Activities and Food camps at two sites: Teams Life Centre in Gateshead, where we launched our first HAF programme last year, and Divercity Hub in Newcastle. Together, they gave 71 unique children a place to play, dance, create, and eat well through the holidays. Here is how it went, in numbers and in the children's own words.
Reach and Delivery
Newcastle was the busier of the two sites, welcoming 46 children across 190 booked places. Gateshead welcomed 25 children across 84 booked places. Together, that is 274 places filled over the programme, with plenty of children coming back day after day.
Sports, Skills, and Smiles
As always, the days were built around being active together. Football, cricket, dodgeball, and arts and crafts were the four activities children named most often across both sites, a mix of energy and quiet creativity that meant everyone found something of their own. Children who had never picked up a bat before were asking for more cricket by the end of the week.
The Coaching Team Made the Summer
If one thing came through above everything else, it was the coaches. They were mentioned unprompted in nearly every answer to “what did you like most”. That shows in the scores too: coaches and leaders were our highest-rated area at 4.9 out of 5.
In Their Own Words
“I don’t like when it ends because it’s fun. I like art the most.”
Aliah, 6, Gateshead
“The activities, they are fun. They are extreme. The coaches are fun – mostly Brett!”
Tyler, 9, Gateshead
“The activities were really fun playing football and cricket. I like cricket more than ever, it’s my third favourite sport.”
The Difference It Made
What families and children told us the camps gave them.
Behind the scores is a simple picture: children who were active every day of the holidays, ate a hot lunch together, and made friends across two very different parts of Tyneside. Several children asked for more days, and more than one told us they did not want the camp to end.
For families, it was free, reliable holiday provision in a place they trusted, run by coaches their children looked forward to seeing. That is the impact we set out to have, and this summer it came through in nearly every response.
Building on a Strong Summer
Two sites, 71 children, and a coaching team the children could not stop talking about: that is a good summer by any measure. Thanks to the staff and volunteers at Teams Life Centre and Divercity Hub, and to every family who took the time to tell us how it went.
We will carry the coaching strength and the activity mix straight into the next programme. If this summer is anything to go by, the next one will be busier still.