A Look back at 2021 for Lorimer Fostering

Posted on 20th January 2022 by Beth Owen

2021 was another year where we found ourselves experiencing things a little different to normal; but there was still plenty to celebrate for the Lorimer Fostering team, our Foster Carers and young people. As we welcome the new year; why not sit yourself down with a nice warm brew and take a look back at 2021 for Lorimer Fostering.

Welcoming New Foster Carers

Our Foster Carers provide many children and young people with safe, supportive homes where they can feel safe and valued. They are a vital part of the fostering community, and we admire them for their commitment to improving young people’s lives.

We are pleased to say that we welcomed a number of wonderful new Foster Carers to the Lorimer Fostering team in 2021! We always like to shout about new carers joining our agency; and we are very excited for them to now be a part of the Lorimer Fostering family.

A big thank you to all of our Foster Carers for the fantastic things that you do; we look forward to celebrating your continued achievements in 2022!

Welcoming New Staff Members

In 2021 we also welcomed some new staff members to team Lorimer; each one bringing lots of experience, knowledge and passion for fostering with them to their roles. We are very excited to have them on board and can’t wait to see them flourish even more as we head into a new year.

To each new team member, we hope you enjoy your time with us here at Lorimer Fostering; together, we’re going to make a HUGE difference!

Staff Retirement

It is with great sadness that in Summer 2021 Lorimer said goodbye to one of our long-standing staff members, Billy.

Billy was with Lorimer for 16 years and was instrumental in making Lorimer what it is today. Whilst we are very sad to have lost him from the team, we are also extremely excited for Billy in this new chapter of his life…retirement!

Happiness Stones

In 2021 our young people continued to spread joy to strangers with their happiness stones.

Alongside our Resource Manager Claire, Lorimer’s young people have been creating, designing and painting stones with positive, happy images and uplifting quotes; then placing them out in local beauty spots and other places for strangers to find. Each stone had ‘Lorimer Fostering’ on the back of it, and the finder was encouraged to let us know on Facebook or Twitter if they found one of them.

We received lovely messages from members of the public who came across some of these wonderful happiness stones whilst out on walks in these areas.

We were even sent some pictures by those who found them!

Foster Care Fortnight

As always, we celebrated Foster Care Fortnight here at Lorimer in May 2021. We were very pleased to hold a super successful campaign; with staff, Foster Carers and young people all getting involved to help promote the many positives of fostering.

The theme for this year was ‘Why We Care’. Together, as an agency, we contributed to this by providing useful information, sharing stories and one young person even wrote a wonderful rap song!

Virtual Walk for St Ann’s

Alongside our Resource Manager Claire, our young people take part in lots of fun activities and are always keen to support charities where they can. This year, they took part in a virtual walk for St Ann’s Hospice which marked their 50th anniversary.

We are super proud of everyone who took part and completed the 10k of walking and running over the hospice’s 50th birthday weekend!

A look back at 2021: Virtual walk for St Ann's

Treetop Trek Adventure

Some of our staff and young people had a great time visiting the Treetop Trek adventure in Heaton Park last September. Everyone who attended really enjoyed themselves and had lots of fun completing the different trails and obstacles! It was a super big achievement, and we are very impressed with those who took part.

Take a look below at some of the pictures from the day!

A look back at 2021: Treetop Trek Adventure

Superhero Medals

This year some of our young people worked extremely hard to achieve the fantastic superhero medals in the pictures below. To complete them they had to do four lots of 5k and a 10k across a six-week period – that’s a huuuuge 30k of walking and running in total!! Well done everyone.

What a brilliant achievement for all of these young people!

Changes at the Lorimer Office

Over the past 12 months we’ve made lots of exciting changes at the Lorimer office. Many of our young people have been involved and have helped us to make new artwork and other creative pieces to have out on display.

Doesn’t it all look fantastic!?

Christmas Card Competition

Each year at the Lorimer Fostering office we hold a Christmas card competition for our lovely young people to take part in. We love seeing all the fantastic designs and hard work that goes into creating them. Below are the fab winners from our 2021 competition! Congratulations to these two wonderfully creative young people for their impressive artwork.

A big thank you to everyone who got involved this year; it was really difficult to choose the winners as every entry was brilliant.

Christmas Activity Days Out

Christmas is always a fun period at Lorimer and this year was no exception! For us, this time of year is all about bringing people together; through shared experiences and having a great time, lots of laughs, meeting new people and getting giddy over our love for the festive season.

We decided to choose two different locations again for our activities this year, both Gulliver’s World and the Chill Factore. Each event was a great success, with young people, Foster Carers and staff all having a fantastic time together!

At Gulliver’s there were lots of different rides and attractions, as well as many other interesting things to see and do; which everyone was able to explore and enjoy at their own pace. One of the highlights of the day was the train ride around the park, which was made even better by a surprise visit from Santa along the way!

The Chill Factore visit was also lots of fun for everyone involved, with young people and staff having a great time doing the different activities that were available. Take a look at some of the pictures from both days out below.

We are already in the throws of planning our Christmas extravaganza for 2022….so keep an eye out to see what we get up to!

Achievements

2021 saw all of our young people make amazing achievements, whether that be personal or academic, no matter how great or small. Lorimer like to celebrate them all as to us all achievements are a big deal! There are just too many to list them all (we wish we could, as they are all super special!) but here are just a few:

Achieved 30/30 on times table test at school
Received excellent school reports
Made a movie for Scouts’ photography badge
Received a certificate for outstanding classwork in child development
Developing fishing as a new skill
Completed 30k of walking and running to receive a superhero medal
Creating new artwork to be displayed at the Lorimer office
Achieved level 2 health and safety and welfare in construction
Received star of the week for science
Completed the Treetop Trek Adventure at Heaton Park

There are just so many amazing achievements; we are so so proud of them all, well done and keep it up in 2022!