Summer activities: Borehamwood area

10:53am Monday 4th August 2008

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August is upon us, and the summer holidays are well underway.

It’s a chance for children to have fun and spend time on some of the less academic activities that aren’t always given top priority at school.

If you haven’t yet got anything planned, there’s still plenty of time to take advantage of the many holiday activities taking place in and around the area.

Basketball, cooking and fashion design are some of the taster sessions on offer as part of Hertsmere Borough Council’s summer programme of activities for young people.

Eleven to 16-year-olds can saddle up for a horse-riding session at Penniwells, in Edgwarebury Lane, Elstree, on dates throughout August, costing £9.50 or £7.50 for borough residents, while roller skating for children aged 11 to 19 of all abilities takes place at Hertswood Centre, in Potters Lane, Borehamwood, on August 8, costing £2.50 or £1.50, for borough residents. For details of other activities, call 020 8207 7568.

As part of the same scheme, The Venue, in Elstree Way, Borehamwood, is offering free swimming and Xergaming for 11- to 16-year-olds from now until August 29.

Swimming takes place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 10am to 12pm. Xergaming — playing computer games that improve physical fitness, with the use of dance mats, game consoles and light activity walls — takes place on weekdays from 10.30am to 11.30am. For more information about events at The Venue, call 020 8386 9886 For a taste of rural life, children can visit Willows Farm Village. From now until August 31, the events programme will give them the chance to find their way out of a maze made completely of maize, enjoy falconry displays, feed animals, or be amused by duck-herding sheepdogs.

New to this year are the summer pantomime, Toady at Willows, featuring characters from The Wind in the Willows, and Sing-a-long-a Woolly, in which Woolly Willow the Sheep leads children in nursery rhymes.

The village, in Coursers Road, London Colney, (just off junction 22 of the M25) is open from 10am to 5.30pm daily. Entry costs £10.95 for adults, £11.95 for children, £9.95 for senior citizens, and under-twos are free. For more information, call 0870 129 9718.

More sports activities are on offer from The King’s Foundation, a charity aiming to develop children’s confidence and social development.

It will be running a multi-activity summer course and a cricket camp, both for five-to 13-year-olds, at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, in Butterfly Lane, Elstree, from Monday until Friday. The multi-activity course, including a range of sports, arts and crafts and drama, costs from £119 to £139, and the Michael Vaughan Cricket Camp costs £89.

Meanwhile, older children, aged 14 to 17, can enrol on a sports leadership programme, also running next week at Haberdashers’, costing £94. Generous discounts are on offer for Borehamwood & Elstree Times readers who quote KCHAB08, and you can book online at kingscamps.org or by calling 08700 429 329.

For those interested in theatre, The Radlett Centre, in Aldenham Avenue, Radlett, is running a five-day musical theatre workshop for children and teenagers aged eight to 16, where they can have a go at singing, dancing and acting.

No previous experience of musical theatre is needed, but participants must be prepared to work hard and take direction.

The workshop runs from August 18 to 22 and costs £120.