Children at a summer club in Townhill have spent the holidays eating breakfast together, walking a mile before lunch and playing a lot of dodgeball.
The club runs at the Phoenix Centre, one of the community organisations sharing Swansea Council‘s summer holiday funding.
That pot is worth almost £700,000 this year, up from £400,000 last summer, and was shared out in July between more than 300 groups across the city.
Of those, 67 projects provide food for school-aged children through the holidays, and 120 successful bids pay for free or low-cost activities.
The reason for the food money is simple arithmetic for a lot of households. Free school meals stop for six weeks, and the cost of replacing them falls on families at the same time as the cost of keeping children entertained.
Cllr Rebecca Fogarty, the council’s cabinet member for community support, visited the Phoenix Centre to meet the children and families using the club.
She said those taking part told her they had a healthy breakfast, went on a mile-long walk and then played games with their friends.
“The children and grown-ups said that it means they can get together and really enjoy the school holidays,” she said.
“We know that the summer holidays can be difficult for some families because of the extra costs, especially when school meals are not available.”
She thanked the Phoenix Centre and the other groups running similar sessions across Swansea.
The council says the funding is meant to give children somewhere welcoming to eat, play and stay active, and to take some pressure off family budgets over the six weeks.
Dodgeball, according to the children at the Phoenix Centre, is the pick of the activities.
The summer money sits alongside other holiday support in the city, including free weekend buses that have run since late July.
Beyond children’s activities, the wider fund also backs 56 emergency food providers and 64 projects for people aged 50 and over.
The holidays end next week, with schools across Swansea going back after the bank holiday.
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