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SSCE Cymru journal

South Wales Forces Festival

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South Wales Forces Festival

January 2024

The fourth and final Forces Festival was held in South Wales and took place in Maindy Barracks on 23rd January 2024. The event saw over 70 Service children and their peers come together from ten different schools across Bridgend, Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan for a day of fun and exciting activities and workshops. Service children were able to share their experiences with fellow Service children and make friends from other schools.

SSCE Cymru were joined by some fantastic organisations who delivered the workshops, including the Forces Fitness, Never Such Innocence, YourNorth and Forces Fitness. Service children were given opportunities to write their own poetry/song, develop their team building skills, learn about World Wars through storytelling, dressing up and fantastic discussions throughout the day.

A huge thank you to all organisations involved for delivering some great workshops to the children which were enjoyed by all, and thank you to the staff and children for coming along and making the day a huge success. Thank you to Maindy Barracks for allowing us to host this fantastic event at their base, and a special thank you to LCpl Shenkin the Goat for coming along to meet the children which provided some great photo opportunities! 

 

 

 

 

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Service children’s quotes

"As soon as we get used to a house, you get moved - I’ve been to four schools and moved six times."

Aiden

"I lived in Nepal, then we went to Brunei, then Malaysia."

Ashim

"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."

Chloe

"I’m used to moving now and mixing with the children... I’ve done it so many times, it’s just a normal thing now."

Chloe

"It's ok talking over skype and that, but sometimes you just want a hug when Dad is away."

Georgia

"I’ve enjoyed going around to lots of places around the world, it's adventurous and exciting."

Harry

"In my eyes, you have hundreds of friends in different places."

Ieuan

"My mum got a chalk board and it says how many sleeps on it with chalk, every minute it’s getting closer for him coming home."

Mia

"I don’t want him to get promoted... I want him to get promoted but I don’t want to leave."

Oliver

"I might be going to boarding school so that I don’t change schools every few years."

Ryan

"I've been to seven different schools; I’ve not stayed put in one school long enough."

Shana

"He has been away for six months and he is back for two weeks, then he goes away again."

Sianed

"My parents were in the Army. My mum is a like a nurse and my dad went to the war in Afghanistan. I actually didn’t really know what he was doing so I was like, ‘Cool Dad, go there,’ but then I found out and thought, 'Thank God he came back alive.'"

Sanjog

"He signed off last week, so he will be done by the end of this year. He’s done 24 years. I find that better because he will be around a lot. He likes watching us playing rugby, so he will get to see us more."

Lewis

"I’m going to a new place entirely. They don’t know anything about me and that’s a big restart and that’s really good for me."

Piaras

"I moved to Wales because my dad was posted in the Army. I thought I would get bullied and I was shy when you meet new people, but I made some friends."

Dan