‘You are either very curious, very brave or quite mad!’ This we said to our young visitors on Saturday. They’d arrived at Rosegarth House for a party organised for them by a group of ladies, who belong to a global women’s organisation and complete strangers to them. Within minutes we were all getting on really well.
You can’t go wrong with fun, friendship and food! Our Soroptimists helped to make the party go with chats, shouts, cheers, laughter, slurps and munching – and then the children joined in!
Ten children were in the room and I apologised for presuming we’d have mostly girls. We had three lovely girls and seven charming boys. The games went well but I felt slightly embarrassed mentioning Cake Decorating next. No problem, it seems boys and girls of all ages love cake decorating – who knew!
The age range for our visitors was from six to thirteen years old. These youngsters are all helping to care for someone at home. In Torbay there are six hundred young people under the age of eighteen who are Carers! The impact of these responsibilities may cause serious difficulties. In some cases education is disrupted, there can be bullying and social issues and even emotional and mental health problems. Torbay Council assists all young people who are referred to them and develop support plans for them.
We owe these special young people recognition and respect and a big
‘Thank You.’
Linda Churchward