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Written by Shaidy Characters
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Tuesday, 28 July 2009 |
– INCLUSION - Having a Laugh Having a Laugh is an important part of Shaidy Characters; perhaps the most important as this is how most young people become involved with the group and helps provide a network of peer support. Positive leisure/social activities have included graffiti, break-dancing, photography, Raft-building, Go-Karting, Quad-Biking, Rock-Climbing, Paint-Balling and Go Ape. Activities are wide and varied, much like the personalities of the participants! Drop InFeedback tells us that one of the main things young people like about Shaidy Characters is the feeling of belonging to something. Being able to access the project on a flexible basis is important as homeless people have chaotic lifestyles and may be put off by too much structure. Dropping in occasionally gives us all a chance to get to know each other and the young people can receive informal support from workers and their peers. Chill OutWe have held a number of Chill Out or Pamper days which have both social and therapeutic outcomes. These days have included Indian head massage, aromatherapy and reflexology, along with art and craft, tarot and astrology and most importantly cream cakes! These days have been a central feature of FUNdaMENTAL, our emotional wellbeing project and in 2008 the young people were taught some basic massage techniques to help them relax. Go ApeThis activity is always popular and we’ve now been to Go Ape three times. Climbing through trees, hundred’s of feet above the ground gives participants a great sense of achievement – that is if they have the nerve to go up in the first place. Lauren Halliday gives this account of our first trip: “We all went to go ape at the Lake district. When we got there we had a safety demonstration on how to go round properly and what to do if we needed help when we were up in the trees. Sam thought that she wasn’t scared of heights until we got there but Steph just went for it and over come her fear of heights, at the end before we went we all got a sticker and when I got home I stuck mine on my mirror and when I look in my mirror every morning to do my hair and make up I look at the sticker and it reminds me of the go ape day and it puts a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Coming home you could tell by the smiles on everyone's faces that they really enjoyed it and everyone said that they would love to do it again.”  Tall Ships
In 2007 Kirsti and Sara joined the crew of the Stravos S Niarchos as part of a volunteering experience with the Tall Ships. The girls carried out six months of fundraising, including sponsorship, barbeques and jumble sales. They finally set sail around Ireland in the autumn and both agreed it was the experience of a lifetime. The pair faced new challenges every day and surprised themselves with their ability to cope with new and difficult experiences. Arts ProjectsArts projects are always popular and a good way to relax, as well as learn new skills. Calum describes two workshops held this year.Graffiti“We spent Wednesday morning and afternoon coming up with ideas for letterings to spray paint the words Shaidy Character onto 15 separate boards, I did four letters and I loved my ideas especially the snake for the “S” it was nicely created. It was a fun day but my fingers were killing me from using the spray cans, we had to wear spray suit gear like masks and clothes protecting suits to stop spray paint from going all over us. Graham who was helping us out with the boards went over the health and safety with us so we’d understand the risks of using spray paints. I couldn’t stop laughing when Caitlin said she looked one of those Health and Safety dudes off Monsters Inc with the suits on. It was a good day but it took ages for us to finish the boards because of the bad weather we had over the summer… which was the worst summer ever because of it we hardly had any sun. I would love to Grafitti again next year because I love art and it was a great experience for me because it was to take up a skill that I could do for one of my final pieces at college because I’m doing BTEC Art and Design for 2 years. PhotographyWe come up with ideas about what we could do for the photo shoot, we all thought about doing horror photography but Emma didn’t like horror unless it was also romantic… so in the end we come up with a romantic horror. It was really fun time getting our photos taking I’m am right poser me because I love modelling and showing off my cheesy smile. We all had pictures taking of us looking casual then we then moved onto be taking pictures looking evil, it was like Jekyll and Hyde being transformed. The photos really good in the end after they were developed there was so much terror, anger and excitement coming from the pictures. We all had a wonderful time getting into make up and posing on camera, also we got to use cameras ourselves to take pics. It was mint I would have another experience at photography because when you take pictures it makes you come up with different photography images of your own.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 July 2009 )
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Shaidy Projects 
