New Start September

September often feels like the year is beginning to wind down, as the nights draw in and daylight wanes. But September is also about new starts, with kids returning to, or starting, school and college, new students arriving for university, and autumn and winter activities and services beginning to ramp up. This seems an ideal opportunity to reflect on the last few months and look forward to the next.

This past summer has seen the local voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise sector offer a bumper selection of activities for young people. Lancashire Youth Challenge supported 13 young people on their ‘Islands Challenge Expedition’, which saw them coasteering, canoeing, rock climbing and more around Anglesey in Wales.

Escape2Make held their Green Festival at Scotch Quarry, with young people aged from 11 to 18 showing off their efforts over the summer in a variety of environmentally friendly activities.

The Summer Activities programme takes place every year, a collaboration between a variety of local organisations through the Lancaster Youth Partnership, and this year provided over 800 children and young people across the district with educational, physical, and fun activities, helping with friendships, the effects of Covid, emotional and mental health, and getting back to school.

But what’s next? Lancaster’s Harvest Market takes place in Friday 16th September, 10am to 5pm, at Lancaster Market Square. This will be an opportunity to celebrate the harvest and to connect with local food and drink producers, craft people, and artists. Food Futures, who host the Harvest Market, also produce an online directory of local producers and sellers of food and drink, which you can visit here. Many businesses, especially smaller, local ones, face an uncertain and challenging future and many people want to support them. This directory offers an easy and accessible way of finding local producers.

Christmas will soon be upon us, and many local charities and community organisations will see an increase in demand for service, as well as an increase in activities, as we get closer to the festive period. If you want to stay informed on upcoming activities and events, you can sign up to the CVS’s newsletter. Just contact us for more information.