Southern Activity Weekend - Hertfordshire

You'll be able to try some new and exciting activities, make new friends and most importantly have lots of fun!

We hope you’ll return home with some awesome memories and want to come back next year for another fantastic holiday.

What activities will I do?
Lee Valley YHA is a fantastic venue for an action-packed weekend. The Lee Valley Park offers lots of different activities so you will never be bored! During the weekend, and subject to weather conditions, you might be:

• rock climbing
• caving
• bell boating
• enjoying a day trip
• trying your hand at some arts and crafts, and lots more!

In the evening, after supper, there will be activities organised by the staff and volunteer team, along with time to socialise and chill out after an adrenaline-packed day.

Where will I sleep?
You will share a room with others attending the holiday. Each room will be all girls or all boys and they will be of a similar age to you.

Will I be able to communicate with everyone?
Whatever your form of communication - BSL, SSE, lipreading or oral - we will make sure you have understood what’s going on and won’t miss out.

Notes for parents and carers

What’s included?
All activities and specialist equipment. Accommodation (plus bedding) and meals are included and special diets can be catered for. We will send you a recommended kit list and other information such as location maps, arrival times and so on three weeks before the event.

Health and safety
Hertfordshire’s Outdoor Adventure Centre is a licensed activity centre providing a range of activities under the guidance of qualified instructors. The programme of activities will be planned by qualified instructors at the centre in partnership with NDCS staff.

All activities are assessed for additional safety issues in relation to communicating with children and young people. Centre staff will have undertaken deaf awareness training and children will be supported by NDCS staff and volunteers to ensure that all the communication needs are met for each activity and throughout the weekend.

Lee Valley YHA sits in 10,000 acres of countryside, leisure facilities and heritage sites near London and is a perfect venue for our Southern Activity Weekend. Visit the Lee Valley YHA website to find out more about the venue. 

Who can come?
This holiday is aimed specifically at deaf children and young deaf people aged 8 to 13-years-old.

It is aimed at children who have not attended NDCS residential holiday’s before and those who might find a week long holiday too long. NDCS uses the term “deaf” to cover all types of hearing loss, including temporary hearing loss, such as glue ear. 

Due to the low numbers and specialist nature of this holiday it is unlikely we will be able to offer places to any hearing siblings or friends, however hearing siblings and friends may still apply and be added to the waiting list (to be notified one month before the event). Preference for these places will be given to children who have not attended an NDCS event before and who may require the support of a hearing sibling or friend for their first event.

Transport
Unfortunately there is no transport available for this event. The nearest train station to the Lee Valley YHA is Cheshunt station, which is approximately a 200m walk away. Trains run every 20 minutes between Cheshunt and London Liverpool Street. The Lee Valley YHA is well connected by road from the Greater London area - leave the M25 at junction 25 and take the A10 and follow the signs for Cheshunt. Follow brown signs to the Hostel.

If you do experience problems in attending this event due to lack of transport please contact the Events Team and we will try to help you.

How to register
Please complete the attached registration form in full and return to the address at the bottom of the flyer as soon as possible. We will then send out confirmation the place is booked. Please use one form for each child attending. You can photocopy the form to book places for more than one child, or contact us for additional copies.

NDCS
York House
37a Great Charles Street
Birmingham
B3 3JY   

Tel: 0121 234 9820 (v/t)
Fax: 0121 233 9575

Booking conditions
To book a place on this event, we require the completed registration form to be faxed (0121 233 9575) or posted back to the NDCS Events Team at:

NDCS
York House
37a Great Charles Street
Birmingham
B3 3JY 

• Bookings will only be accepted on receipt of the official project booking forms.
• NDCS projects are extremely popular, and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
• To enable equal access to the events we have to limit the number of events children can attend to one weekend residential and one residential holiday per child. However, your child can be added to a reserve list for additional events if you would like and we will contact you should a place become available.
• Places will be prioritised for deaf children. Hearing siblings and friends may still apply, however they will be added to the waiting list (to be notified one month before the event). Preference for these places will be given to children who have not attended an NDCS event before and who may require the support of a hearing sibling or friend for their first event.
• On receipt of the completed form confirmation of the place will be sent to you, usually by email if supplied.
• Final instructions will be sent to you three weeks before the event.

Cancellations
Thanks to our donors, we are delighted that we can offer all NDCS events free of charge to our members. All we ask is that if you book your child a place on this event, then your child does attend.  The actual cost of each place on this event is £195 per child.

Last minute cancellations not only cost the charity money but more importantly, with the huge demand for our events, it could mean that another child has lost the opportunity to attend.

If, through unavoidable circumstances, your child is unable to attend all or a part of the event, then we ask that you let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to someone on the waiting list.

Further information
Download the event flyer here:
Southern activity weekend [2] (63 kb)

For further information on this and our other events contact the Events Team:

Phone: 0121 234 9820 (v/t)
Email: events@ndcs.org.uk