Climbing sessions a great success

The climbing sessions for children and young people at the Beacon centre, Caernarfon were a great success with everyone enjoying them.

The event was organised by Nick Thomas, development officer with the North Wales Society of the Blind with support from the Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) and Guide Dogs Cymru.

It was an opportunity for children with sight and young people and their families to meet each other and have fun and share experiences and stories.

Two sessions were held - one for children aged 4-12 and the other for young people 12-17.

The event was such a success that the Society will organise another in the future.

Yusuf, one of the young people who took part, said: "I've enjoyed being at Beacon climbing and I learned things about climbing and things."

Amir added: “Thanks to the organisers for organising this. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”

Nick, development officer with the North Wales Society of the Blind, said: "We've just had a session here at the Beacon climbing centre in Caernarfon for visually impaired children and young people to come and do a climbing session.

"I organised this session with the intention of having children and young people who live their lives with a visual impairment meet other children and young people who are going through the same experience. But on top of that, the parents of the children and the young people had the opportunity to meet, come together and share experiences and have a conversation about what's going on.

“I think the day was a great success. I've enjoyed seeing the children and young people enjoying themselves, pushing themselves and taking on the challenge of going up some of these walls in the Beacon.

"We hope to do more sessions like this in the future and get more children and people and their families together again. Thank you very much to everyone who came here and took part and to the members of staff and the other teams for coming here to support us. It has been a fantastic day and we are very happy. Thank you very much."

Kim Pearson from the Royal Society of Blind Children said: “We’ve just had a lovely session at the Beacon Crazy Climb with a lot of the kids and families that I work with.

“It’s been lovely to meet everyone in person. It’s been a brilliant event. It would be great to do something like this again. It’s been fabulous. Thank you.”

Jen Collins, a rehabilitation worker from Guide Dogs Cymru said: “We’ve had a lovely morning here today at the Beacon climbing centre. For me, the best thing about the day has been seeing the children getting the chance to be with other visually-impaired children from the area and the parents all getting the opportunity to talk together and be together.

“It was really nice to see and very much needed. It’s been a really lovely morning, so thank you very much. Diolch yn fawr.”