Young Carers Festival 2026

Friday 10^th July saw our third Young Carers Festival, with 150 young carers attending the day. The event is all about celebrating the achievements of some of Lincolnshire’s young carers and giving them a much-deserved day of fun and respite on the beautiful grounds of Lincoln Bishop University.

The day kicked off with a beatboxing workshop provided by Noise Academy and this got everyone involved – including the teachers! This was a great opportunity to be creative and build confidence as well as learning a new skill.

After this, some student ambassadors from Lincoln Bishop University were on hand to provide the students with a campus tour and giving the young people a glimpse of university life and the chance to consider what going to university could look like. Of course, they were on hand to answer any and all questions the students may have as well.

In the afternoon, and after a buffet lunch, the festivities really kicked off! Our young people were free to take part in any of the activities we had planned, including:

• Music production studio from Noise Academy
• Birds of Prey from Simon Tebutt Falconry
• Facepainting from Lollypops
• Ice cream from Candy’s Ice Cream
• Bouncy castles
• Chocolate strawberries
• Photo booth

As well as a day of fun, the event creates spaces for students to reflect on their own experiences and connect with other young people who understand these experiences and have had similar ones themselves. We were very grateful to have been sent some resources from Kooth who provide mental health resources for young people to help support some of these conversations as well.

For the final part of the day, the students were gathered to watch a demonstration with the birds of prey and some young people were even able to be part of the show! From having birds flying over and between their heads to donning the falconry gloves and calling birds from a distance, there was something for everyone in this show and it was a hit!

A huge thank you goes to our schools for facilitating and bringing their young people to this event and of course thank you to all our suppliers for making this happen! The university have always supported us in hosting this event so a big thank you to them as well and most importantly, thank you to our young people for showing such resilience and dedication in supporting those around you and we hope you enjoyed the festival!

We look forward to hosting Young Carers Festival 2027 next year!