Summer Camp builds bridges with Met Police

This August Palace for Life Foundation delivered a summer camp at the Warren engaging 70 young people a day to provide additional support throughout the school holidays.

Participants at the summer activity camp included young people referred to Palace for Life services in need of extra support due to becoming at risk of taking part in criminal activity, those with additional needs such as ASD, ADHD and PTSD and individuals from low-income families.

Partnered with Bromley Children and Families Forum, the camp was based at the Metropolitan Police Sports Ground, The Warren, where a part of the focus was to build bridges and challenge stigmas between young people and the local police force.  Officers visited the camp throughout the 16-day course to join in activities, answer questions and deliver talks to the participants.

The camp worked to break down barriers between the young people and the Police, as it allowed them to see them as a person and not the uniform. When learning that the person they had been speaking to was a Police officer, one participant exclaimed: “What, you’re a Police Officer?!”.

Another participant said: “The Police I usually see don’t ever chat to us, but these officers actually really care.”

The activity camp gave the young people the chance to take part in various sports, arts and crafts, science workshops and a foam party. They were also treated to visits from The Royal Navy who hosted a team bonding day and the Met Police where they spoke to their bike, stop and search and territorial support group teams.  The attendees also took part in workshops on youth violence delivered by the Mizen Foundation, Solve and Bromley Gangs Team.

A key aim of the summer activity camp was to support the families who need our help the most, and 80% of the young people in attendance were on free school meals. Throughout the course, we were able to give out over 1,000 free lunches and fresh fruit.

The Foundation delivers a variety of courses throughout the school holidays to keep the young people in our community safe, active and healthy all year round.

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