If you are a young person and would like to get involved, or a professional who would like to support the plan, please get in touch at Voice@newcastle.gov.uk
In 2023 the city council, Evry partners and Newcastle residents worked together to spread Christmas magic to children and young people. The focus was collecting Christmas gifts and increasing access to festive experiences for Children in Need and Care Leavers.
The Christmas gift collection was a combined effort between Newcastle City Council staff, local businesses and Newcastle residents. City council staff contributed to Christmas Tree collections at the Civic Centre and Allendale Road, and residents and businesses purchased gifts via an Amazon wish list.
Evry partners supported the Christmas gift collection. Stagecoach donated gift cards, Ward Hadaway purchased items via the Amazon wish list, Northumbria University facilitated a campus Christmas essentials donations campaign, and DRS contributed gifts for Children in Need.
Across the Christmas gift collection, over 650 gifts were donated for Care Leavers and Children in Need. The total value of gifts bought via the Amazon wish list and gift-card vouchers via Evry partners was over £4,000. All the Christmas gifts were wrapped by volunteers. This included colleagues from across the Council, Newcastle College’s staff and students, and local businesses through NE1.
Through the festive period, over 1,000 free tickets were distributed to major events, including NE1’s Search for Santa trail and the Northern Lights experience in Leazes Park.
Newcastle Theatre Royal offered over 800 free tickets to the Pinocchio Pantomime, an in-kind contribution of over £20,300. Children, young people and families that attended the pantomime rated it at an average of 4.98 / 5.
Families shared some brilliant comments on their experience,
“A positive experience from start to finish. The staff were welcoming, friendly, and extremely accommodating to the children who had additional needs. The list with any sensory timings on is a brilliant idea and really put their minds at ease. As well as the TV playing the show outside so the kids who needed to leave didn’t miss out. Fantastic work, very impressed”.
“We have never been to a pantomime or visited the theatre and we probably would never have done so had we not been given this opportunity. We really appreciate it and it has ignited the girls to want to visit theatres to see other shows."
“We’re delighted to be part of the Evry programme. It is so important to give opportunities to children and young people in this city, particularly from our perspective, creative opportunities and opportunities to come to the theatre. It makes such a difference to young people’s health and wellbeing, their self-esteem & confidence to come and have fun in a creative environment. We will continue that commitment every year, giving a performance of the pantomime to children and young people and their families via the Evry programme.”
Christmas parties
For Newcastle Care Leavers, the Life Experienced participation group co-designed a Christmas Party. Young people designed the buffet and the entertainment. A student DJ, studying at Newcastle College, provided the music entertainment.
The Children in Care Participation groups, Youth Panel and Youth Justice group each chose an activity for their Christmas event, such as ice-skating with support from Centre for Life.