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Residential trips

Enabling young people and young carers to enjoy the waterways 

Our aim for these trips is to give young people opportunities to try out doing new things, learn to do things without being under pressure, be more independent and self-reliant, have new experiences, make new friends and also just chill out and have fun. Thanks to our generous supporters, these holidays are currently free of charge. 

There are two types of residential trips

  • Enable trips: these are for young people with a range of special needs. In August there are usually 4 week-long trips and a shorter mid-week trip during the May half-term break, with up to 6 young people on each trip. We cater for quite a wide age range (14-25) and it gives the young people the opportunity to be more independent and have experiences without their parents/guardians on hand. 
  • Young Carers weekends: these are youngsters who act in a caring role during their everyday lives, whether to help a parent or sibling.   We run the trips  but the participants are arranged through Young Carers in Herts. So for a weekend, up to 8 young carers can get away from their responsibilities, have a good time and make new friends.

Funding

We aim to make these holidays free of charge for both participants and volunteers. For this we depend on the generosity of supporters  contributing the full cost of the holiday for everyone on board. This totals approximately £2,500 for each week (proportionately less for the shorter trips).