Published May 3rd, 2019
Young tenants of Ocean Housing came together over the Easter holidays for a programme of activities funded by the leading Cornish social housing provider.
St Austell-based Ocean Housing Group organised a day out for ten children, aged 10 to 15, at BF Adventure, where they took part in activities such as rafting and canoeing, working in teams to row across the lake; and archery.
The event was organised by Ocean’s tenant involvement coordinator, Abigail Vercoe, as part of a series of events and opportunities to allow tenants to be more involved with Ocean. She said, “It was great to see young people encouraging each other, and enjoying activities which they may not have been able to do before, often due to costs and family work commitments.
“Some of our tenants struggle finding childcare or filling the school holidays with fun activities for their children, so it was nice to be able to provide some support in this area.”
The main aim was to tackle social exclusion of children from across Cornwall by engaging with younger residents, providing them with an opportunity to make new friends, build confidence and learn new life skills.
Harry Lewis, aged 14 from Foxhole, took part in the adventure day. He said, “I had such a great day out with the Ocean team. It was so fun and I learnt lots of new skills.”
Ocean Housing Group invites all residents to get involved and consult about how the organisation manages their homes. Valuing tenants’ views and opinions, Ocean encourages them to be involved in their community as much as possible, and has a number of panels where they can provide feedback.
Abigail continued, “It was good to get to know some of our tenants better. Having now met them in a more social situation, many said they felt Ocean seemed more approachable, which is a really positive outcome of the day.”
Future events include a Community Heroes project due to take place in August. Visit Ocean’s Facebook page to keep up to date with information.
