Children's experiences of poverty - Open Spaces

Last summer Children North East invited 1,200 children and young people, 100 in each North East Local Authority, to photograph their lives and what poverty looked like where they live. They took over 11,000 photographs on disposable cameras.

We asked each group to tell us about their pictures and what they meant to them and group them into themes.

Children and young people spent a lot of time out of the house, where they could walk to them, they enjoyed open spaces like the beach and countryside.

The children and young people could not afford public transport so could only get to the beach or countryside if they were within walking distance of home. A great many children and young people had nowhere to go other than their neighbourhood.
 

The photographs from the project will be the central focus of a national conference about child poverty at the Sage, Gateshead on 23rd November hosted by Children North East and the Webb Memorial Trust. The pictures will then tour the region.

The project was funded by the Webb Memorial Trust and managed by Children North East. The purpose of the project is to bring children and young people’s experiences to the regional debate about what should be done for the 144,000 children (1 in 4) living in families below the official poverty line in the North East.