In the UK, we bring smile support to children in hospices, hospitals, shelters and refuges, and visit food banks, disability support groups, community centres and toddler groups. We also share play and laughter with young people who are seeking asylum, to help them start to rebuild safe and happy childhoods.
Across the UK, our teams of trained play professionals and smile specialists support children who are experiencing crises or severe hardships.
Throughout the year, we work in hospices, hospitals, refuges for women and children, temporary accommodation housing children who are seeking asylum, and pupil referral units for young people who’ve been excluded from mainstream education.
During the school holidays, we put on free play workshops and circus shows at community centres, disability support groups, food banks, and toddler groups.
Over the Christmas holidays, we deliver these sessions with a seasonal twist, to make sure everyone we meet enjoys a memorable family outing at this special time of the year.
In the UK, we also deliver Sensory Circus sessions in hospices and at schools and groups for young people with disabilities.
Sensory Circus uses small, participant-led shows and play sessions, based around sensory storytelling, games and exploration, and featuring lots of one-to-one interaction between the children and our smile specialists.
This approach is all about making sure that every child gets to play, laugh and use their imagination in the ways that they like best.
Thank you all so much for coming to all of our activities this week! We really appreciated how you were able to alter your shows to cater to the needs of both our Noah’s Ark Children and a big range of siblings. Myself and the wider team that have caught parts of the show are so impressed how you’ve managed to keep the attention of so many children for such a long time … it’s definitely not an easy thing to do.
Megan Scott – Family Activities Team Leader, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice
Many of our families are struggling at the moment both emotionally and financially. It was a great time for them to enter another dimension and engage in the creative, imaginative world presented to them and relax.
Gill Slee – Coordinator, Make Lunch Sea Mills
They really involved the children in the show and what I liked most was they made an effort to remember the children’s names as the show went on, which in turn encouraged the children to really participate and made them feel involved.
Charlotte North – Play Lead, WHP Family Centre
I have never seen the children all so actively engaged together in one activity, the Flying Seagulls managed to keep them all enthralled throughout the performance.
It’s also a massive help to me and the team of volunteers that we can concentrate on cooking food while the children are entertained.
Many of the children have never seen circus or shows before so it was a real treat.
Amy Goodwin — Project Manager, All Saints Family Cafe
The Flying Seagull Project have continued to provide a vital service to our community over the short time we have been working together. Through their work, the Flying Seagull team have injected joy and fun into the lives of families and children who have suffered immensely throughout the pandemic. Families who have little or no access to public funds, whose lives have been stretched over the course of this last year.
The Flying Seagull Project provide vital respite to the children who have faced a year of confusion, anxiety and fear, reminding them that the magic of play and imagination can take us all away for a short while.
Georgia Wright – Brixton People’s Kitchen
Really amazing fun for all the family. In our family, I don’t know who enjoyed it the most, it’s the best thing we’ve done together for a long time.
Parent – Loughborough Community Center at Max Roach
“I don’t know about the children, but I had a lot of fun!”
Mother of a displaced child at one of the hotels we visited
Everyone, kids and adults alike, enjoyed trying out diabolos, spinning plates and more. A usually quiet little boy showed amazing dexterity with the spinning plates and you could see his confidence grow as he spun them. It was good to see parents and carers playing and having fun together with their children.
Make Lunch Canterbury
The children enjoyed the performance, and it was great to be able to facilitate a show like this in what was such a difficult season for children. I enjoyed how fun and light the show was, specifically the interaction with the audience and adults in the room. It was easy for all children to understand and had light and fun themes throughout. The actors’ energy was what made the show, they were engaging and were able to hold such a large space.
Kate Hilton – Creative Programmes and Education Manager, Transform UK
Thank you for the performance and circus skills at the Katherine Low Settlement. The children and parents absolutely loved it and all said it had been the best day ever!
Nadine Ballantyne — Katherine Low Settlement
The Afghan families we have been supporting … have had three weeks of sitting with the trauma of separation and loss, being pulled out of their known environment and living with a sadness of currently simply “existing” in an unknown and familiar space. The visit from The Flying Seagull Project brought genuine laughter and delight to both children and adults. Being able to simply be playful, transform the otherwise vast and drab outside space and bring both girls and boys from over 60 families together was just great.
Adele Spires – Managing Director and Senior Art Psychotherapist, SOLA ARTS
Involved everyone, plenty of laughs and smiles. Learned new tricks with my children.
Parent – Families for All Hub
One of our non-verbal children spoke for the first time during the performance as she was so engaged and enjoying it. The same child went up to the front and joined in the performance, dancing with one of the ladies with a piece of material in front of others, which is a major achievement for this child.
Anonymous
The children have been lucky enough to enjoy multiple shows and each one has been different which the children love as they never know what to expect and the shows are entertaining.
Joanne King – Senior Play Worker, Heywood Young People’s Centre
These sessions have already made a difference. The children expect “the clowns” on Fridays : they put their screens aside, they play, shout and laugh freely, which is impossible at school and in their small rooms. It is a moment of pure joy for them.
These sessions also put a smile on their parents’ faces. For some, especially single parents, it is a small break in the continuous task of looking after their kids. For others, it is an occasion to see what their children are capable of: catching a new game, running and jumping faster …
Having a regular session and time to forget about what’s going on in the hotel is almost like therapy for the kids and adults, letting them be something else.
Laurence – Coordinator, Care4Calais
The most memorable part of the day was when they encouraged the children to have a go using the circus equipment themselves … finding unique ways to use the toys, depending on their ability. It was amazing to see so many of the children engaged in the same activity and having fun together. They were so encouraging and because the children were loving trying out the circus tricks so much, the performers put on a circus talent show for children to show what they had learned. This showed the flexibility and enthusiasm of the Seagulls, that they could respond and adapt their program to the wants of children as individuals.
Lauren Bennett – Playworker, Islington Play Association
Some children I would have thought to be shy were confident on getting up centre stage to tell jokes, all had a go at a group game and learning how to juggle and plate spin. One child (six-year-old boy) explained he really felt part of the show and it was nice seeing everyone laugh … Another parent messaged this morning “thanks for yesterday, the children can’t stop talking about their day and the show.” Another child came back in today saying “look, I’m wearing my badge.”
Kate Humphrey – Manager, Coram Fields
The children’s confidence to express their emotions has improved a great deal. They were shy and reserved. However, the Flying Seagulls provided great actors to help children be creative and simply express themselves in a fun, noisy and active way. They have really come out of their shells.
Anonymous – Refugee Advocate, Hopscotch
I was impressed with the way the Flying Seagulls worked with the more challenging members of the group, by giving a task or distracting with humour.
I also thought that the parents and staff were kept entertained, the ghost hunting show was hilarious and had everyone laughing, the props were great too.
Hannah Wilson – Early Help, Coventry City Council
It was a delight to meet the Flying Seagull team who attended our senior respite service on Saturday. They did a fantastic job in entertaining both young people and support staff. Not many of our young people get to experience these types of shows as they are in public, and due to the current circumstances they tend not to go out in the community. To have The Flying Seagull Project in a safe and secure environment was brilliant.
Sabba Parveen Shahid – Deputy Lead Coordinator, Families United Network
