'BROADENING KIDS' HORIZONS IN THE SUMMER

13 AUGUST 2001

The opening night of 'Catherine and Tom' at the Customs House was a great event. There were four Mayors from around Tyne and Wear, everyone enjoyed the production, and by the last few scenes, one of the Mayoresses next to me was so engrossed that she hardly noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks.

I came away with a couple of thoughts. First, what a difference the Customs House makes to life and leisure in South Tyneside, and what potential it has for the future. On the night of the 'Catherine and Tom' opening, there was a photographic exhibition by a Northumberland man who has emigrated to Australia and back, and I heard from staff of plans for expanding outreach activities to link more people to the arts.

Arts organisations throughout the country are being urged and funded by the government to emphasise access and excellence - rejecting the idea that more participation means lower quality, and instead exposing more people to artistic excellence, and discovering talent on the way. That links to a second memory of the evening.

The history of South Tyneside explains a lot about the local pride and values. We must never lose that sense of where we come from. But there is always a danger of being trapped by history. That's why I said to people on that night that it is important to learn from the past, but not live in it. Was it Churchill who said you can't navigate through life only looking in the rear-view mirror? If so he was right.

That is why, without forgetting the adult actors at the Customs House, I thought the children who played Tom and Catherine as young bairns, and their young mates who ran and sang their hearts out on stage, were a real inspiration. They had obviously found out about the life nearly a century ago, understood the problems, but lost none of the vitality that children bring to any enterprise - even if it means giving up their summer holidays for hard rehearsals and tense productions.

We are not very good in this country at organising after school and holiday activities for kids. True, the government are expanding by 1.6 million the number of childcare places by 2004, but we are still a long way behind France or the United States where a two or even three week summer camp for the majority of children is an accepted part of national life. The benefits are obvious. Summer camps- everything from hiking and camping to art and music- bring together children across social classes and age ranges to share experiences and learn from each other.

I saw the potential of organised summer activity when I visited the St Wilfrid's School the week before last. The two week summer school brought together eleven and twelve year olds with older 'mentors' aged 15 and 16 and teachers. The activities ranged from computer courses to trampolining, but it was the reaction of the children that was most revealing.

"Its learning that's not boring" they told me; "School that is fun". And what about the benefits? "I've met people from the Borough"; "Secondary school will be less frightening in September". And what did their mates think? "They made fun at first, but now they are jealous". That says it all.

The summer school, driven forward by committed teachers and part of a national scheme funded by the government and involving four other secondary schools in South Tyneside, showed what is possible. T S Eliot said "According to my view of culture, the whole population should take an active part". Shouldn't we be seeking to offer to all children, not just a few, the summer experience of broadening horizons, of learning that's fun, of meeting other children and interacting with adults in a grown-up way? I think so.