On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon and evening with the team from Carers Choice in Castle Point. Each week, they run special sessions for young carers aged from 8 to 18. The sessions take the form of a social club with various activities to help them make friends, relax and learn new skills.
Essex Ham was approached to see if we’d be willing to give the group a taster of amateur radio, and we were very happy to help.
After meeting the keen group of young carers, I gave a short presentation on what radio’s all about. One of the carers knew her phonetic alphabet, and most were radio listeners. We had a short radio quiz, talked about how radio affects our lives, then I then outlined what amateur radio can do, covering the latest news on the ISS contacts.
The talk was rounded off with a screening of the Amateur Radio – A 21st century hobby video.
After some more questions and a short refreshment break, a 2 metre station was set up, with the help of the young carers. A basic setup was used – a home-made Slim Jim on a fishing pole and a Yaesu FT-7900 powered by a small SLAB.
Next, time for some greetings messages, and at this point, a huge thanks to Dorothy M0LMR, with help from Richard G7OED, for being on frequency and taking greetings messages not only from the youngsters, but also from Sarah and Viv, the team looking after the carers for the evening.
With messages complete and first contacts made – a huge “73” was sent from the carers and staff to Dorothy, and it was time to take the station down, before the youngsters boarded their minibus and headed away.
Thanks to Sarah and Viv for the hospitality, and the opportunity to meet the young carers. You can find more information on what they do here: Castle Point Young Carers
We hope to be able to catch up with other young carers in the future!
Pete M0PSX
Ah a lovely article, was very happy to help and take guest messages from them all,,really enjoyed it xx well done Pete for making the time and effort to promote , and help others, in our great hobby xx