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Contact Information for The Rowdy Bunch Youth Club for Disabled
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About The Rowdy Bunch
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(The Rowdy Bunch Annual Activity Holiday at The Calvert Trust Exmoor)
The Rowdy Bunch
The Rowdy Bunch is a Swindon based youth club, which draws from Swindon and the surrounding area, set up with the aim of enabling disabled teenagers to realise their full potential. It is staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers and runs on a weekly basis, during school term time.
The club aims to give these teenagers the opportunity to meet on an informal basis within their peer group without the day-to-day pressures sometimes placed upon them in their usual surroundings. Furthermore, the club aims to give them the opportunity to experience activities that they would normally be denied because of their disability. The activities are challenging and designed to build self-confidence, self-reliance, respect for and confidence in other club and team members.
During the majority of the year these activities take place in and around Swindon and are generally self-funded. A shopping trip, ten pin bowling or a visit to the cinema do not present a challenge to most people; but try these in a wheelchair, or when you lack confidence and they become a different proposition.
The majority of these teenagers want to lead constructive lives and also to be able to contribute to society and the workplace in a positive manner. The Rowdy Bunch aims to give them a sound base to work from which will enable them to reach their individual goals.
Once each year The Rowdy Bunch aims to attend a weeklong activity and adventure holiday, normally at specialist centres in Devon and Cornwall. This holiday serves two purposes. Firstly it provides a welcome period of respite for the families who care for the teenagers on a day-to-day basis all year round. Secondly it presents the ultimate challenge for the teenagers in terms of physical and mental development. They undertake (supervised by fully qualified centre staff) such activities as rock climbing, wheelchair and free abseiling, canoeing, sailing and more sedate activities such as horse riding and archery
The Rowdy Bunch is proud to have made inroads into breaking down the barriers which many disabled teenagers face on a daily basis, both perceived and real. One major area in which barriers have been broken down is within the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. The Rowdy Bunch is the first disabled group in the Swindon area to undertake their Bronze Award Training. The first thirteen members who successfully completed 'The Bronze', were presented with their awards in March 2001 . The annual adventure holiday forms an integral part of this training with one day and night being devoted to the exploration training. |
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Photographs
 Swindon's Mayor, Dave Cox, picking up a few tips from Luke Gray. |
and The Mayoress too.........
 Swindon's Mayoress in conversation with Julian Selby (left) and Daryl Ferris (right). |
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