Robert - Chill Club and Young Chef’s Programme
Robert has attended Chill Club since May 2022 after he attended the community Holiday Activities Programme in the August 2021. .
During this programme he made many friends and some of them attended the Chill Club and told him to come along - they said that it was fun and that they thought he would enjoy it.
He spoke to his Mum about coming along to the club however she was hesitant and unsure that it was the right environment for him. Robert is home educated and though he socialised with other young people that were home educated, Mum didn’t feel comfortable.
However, after much ‘persistence’, seven months later he came along and signed up to the club. Robert took some time to understand the club rules, get into the rhythm of the club and to learn how to socialise with others. He talks openly and passionately about how much he enjoys the club; he talks about how much his social skills have improved, how he finds making friends much easier and how to talk to other people in general. His friendship circle has increased and how much more confident he feels in himself. He speaks about improving his skills in playing sports and in cooking.
Robert is very passionate about cooking! As part of the club, we ran a Young Chefs Programme to enable children and young people to develop their cooking skills. Each week, four young people sign-up to cook and to serve the young people that attend the club. Every week Robert asks if he can cook and is on a ‘waiting’ list if anyone drops out at the last minute. He also volunteered regularly at our Community Lunch Club, assisted our community chef over the summer with the Holiday Activities programme helping to prepare lunch for families that attended and helped to prepare and serve Afternoon Tea to Copperfields, an assisted living community in Newington, as part of the King’s Coronation event.
We were delighted when Robert got himself a job, training on the job in the kitchen at the Ramsgate Brassiere. The Head chef is really impressed with his foundation skills and thinks he has potential to go further.
“Coming to the Chill Club has widen my friendship group, improved my skills especially in cooking. I have matured a lot – Mum recently showed me a video of myself when I first started Chill Club last year and I was a lot less mature. Now, I have grown up a lot mentally and have made so many new friends”.