The weather forecast loomed all week for the North Yorkshire Sport team but this year’s Wellbeing Festival showed that we needn’t have worried. It turns out that if you create a safe environment, bring the right providers together, and give young people autonomy over how they engage then they don’t care about the rain or getting muddy. Instead, they throw themselves into every single opportunity available to them.
This year’s event brought together 430 students from 18 different schools across North Yorkshire and almost 30 different organisations and clubs that offer physical activity and wellbeing opportunities for young people. Dalby Forest opened up their incredible forest grounds to us once again and it was amazing seeing teenagers trying out new activities, communicating with new people and exploring different ways to move or feel good.
This year’s main rotation of activities included:
- Kinball led by Katie Peacock from Kinball UK and Exclusively Inclusive, a voluntary organisation based in Skipton. The Kinball activities were delivered by young leaders from Richmond School and Boroughbridge High School who worked extremely hard in the rain to ensure everyone taking part had fun and felt included.
- Dance with Helen from Kinesis Dance, York. Helen did a fantastic job of breaking down one or two dances per session and there wasn’t a single girl stood still. Even the staff got their dancing shoes on!
- Athlete Mentor Workshops with our fantastic team of mentors: Jenny Wallwork, Adam Whitehead and James Kirton. Think all things teamwork, communication challenges and confidence boosts.
- Our Activity Village which contained over 20 different providers from across North Yorkshire, varying from youth organisations such as NYY, Inspire Youth and Carers Plus, martial arts and circus skills, wellbeing activities with Rural Arts and smoothie bike fun with North Yorkshire Rotters. The full list of providers will be available soon.
- Inflatable obstacle courses, slides and bungee challenges – made all the more exciting by the rain.
- And of course most people’s highlight of the day, the Colour Course!
At an age where we see so much drop off in physical activity levels in girls, we are continually trying to explore what it means to teenagers to be active and what they prioritise when it comes to wellbeing. We asked girls about this during the festival and will utilise that feedback to enhance future events. Here is just a snippet of what we discovered.
What does wellbeing mean to you?
- “Wellbeing is about being happy and being able to be yourself in places without having to hide who you are.”
Why is being active important for wellbeing?
- “Exercise helps my wellbeing because when I’m stressed or having an anxiety attack, fresh air helps and running around helps me breathe a bit more.”
When someone is kind to me, it makes me feel…
- “More secure, in a safe space, more encouraged.”
Those key themes of safety, kindness and reliability in adults or peers came up time and time again.
The girls chose to engage in each activity in a way that suited them. Some chose to make the colour course competitive with a sprint to the finish line, others made the most of the paint and fun with friends. If we want to keep young people active and help them create healthy habits to take into adulthood, then we’ve got to keep that in mind.
As we reflect on this year’s festival, it’s clear that creating the right environment matters far more than perfect conditions. When girls feel safe, supported and free to be themselves, they show up, get involved and redefine what being active looks like on their own terms. That’s something worth holding onto. Our role now is to keep listening, keep adapting and keep creating spaces where every young person feels they belong—whatever the weather. If we can do that, we’re not just delivering events, we’re helping to shape positive, lasting relationships with physical activity and wellbeing for years to come.
North Yorkshire Sport would like to think everyone that came together to make the day possible – schools, students, staff, providers and Dalby Forest for hosting us. Thank you to our young leaders from George Pindar (our York Mix media team), Boroughbridge High School and Richmond School (Kin-ball team) and Ryedale (the face painting and glitter crew). If you would like more information on how you can get involved next year, please email Ruth Whitehead at ruth@northyorkshiresport.co.uk or call us on 01423 226303.
