Lent Appeal for The Children's Society takes off 

The Lent Appeal launched just over two weeks ago in St Andrew's to raise funds for this summer's Young Carers' Festival has got off to a great start - thanks to the generosity of our church-goers.

Now in its 26th year, the two-day festival is hosted by The Children's Society and is the biggest gathering of young carers in the world.


As well as practical support and advice, the programme offers young carers the chance to enjoy a weekend's respite from their caring responsibilities.

So for our Lent Appeal, we're asking people to donate money which will go towards buying materials and crafts for young people to enjoy while away from home.

Partnership Lead Rob Needle said: "We are running our Appeal throughout Lent, and already lots of people have donated money which will go towards the purchase of paints, acrylic paints, air drying modelling clay, ceramic tiles, blank greetings cards and lots more.

"We're sticking pictures to represent what has been 'purchased' on our noticeboard in church (see photo below). It's filling up nicely but we'd like to see if completely full of 'purchases' by the time Good Friday comes around!"

• There are an estimated 120,000 young carers in the UK - but the figure is probably higher.
• The Young Carers' Festival takes place near Southampton in Hampshire at YMCA Fairthorne Manor, and is for secondary school aged young carers from 11-17 years.
• Last year more than 800 young carers from all over the country attended.
• Watch the highlights from last year's Festival on YouTube.