Bradford Council’s Children’s Services staff are taking part in this week’s Clap for Carers tribute on Thursday 9 April, but will be clapping in recognition of the amazing work that its foster carers and residential workers in our children’s homes are doing looking after and supporting our most vulnerable children and young people.

During these unprecedented times, Bradford Council’s Children’s Services staff wanted to join together to show their appreciation for the entire health and social care workforce but particularly express thanks and recognition for the valuable work foster carers and residential workers do to protect and keep the most vulnerable safe.

Staff from across Children’s Social Care, from social workers through to senior managers, have videoed themselves clapping and cheering for the foster carers and residential workers in the district who are still working hard to look after and support the children during the coronavirus pandemic.

Councillor Adrian Farley, portfolio holder for Children’s and Families, said: “Our foster carers and residential workers are at the heart of the care we provide our most vulnerable children and young people in the district.

“Everyone in Children’s Services and I would like to thank them for their love, kindness, generosity and commitment, now in these difficult times and always.

“We will need more foster carers before this pandemic is over, and we continue to recruit and train new fostering families during the pandemic. I hope someone reading this today will decide to enquire about becoming a foster carer.”

There are more than 720 children living with over 500 fostering families in the Bradford district.

Bradford Fostering Service is calling on the residents of the district to consider fostering as a career path to help the most vulnerable children coming in to the care system.

There is always a need for new foster carers. As foster carers ‘work’ from home by the nature of the role, you will have the flexibility of working from home and the security knowing there will always be a need to care for vulnerable young people.

Although the offices are temporarily closed, Bradford Fostering Service is still actively recruiting and assessing new foster carers and is happy to talk to anyone who wants to find out more about fostering.

Visit the website www.fosterbradford.co.uk to request your free guide to fostering or sign up for the fostering newsletter.

Easter will be very different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. People who usually celebrate the Bank Holiday weekend at church or by meeting with family and friends won’t be able to because of the Government restrictions on movement.

Bradford Council is encouraging people to think of creative ways celebrate a ‘Stay at Home Easter’ and ‘Visit Bradford Later. Their tourism team, Visit Bradford, has come up with a list of great ideas for how you can do this.

The list has ideas for all ages including art and crafting ideas, an Easter bonnet competition, a virtual Bradford film trail, free theatre in your living room and Easter themed activities from Bradford Cathedral.

Bradford Council’s Museums and Galleries Service would like people to get inspired by David Hockney’s recent image of daffodils, entitled: Do Remember They Can’t Cancel the Spring and create their own art using a free art online app. The artwork created can be shared on the Bradford Museums and Galleries Facebook page @BradfordMuseums who will use it to create a virtual gallery.

Wannabe junior explorers can go on and imaginary adventure by searching for objects in their own home and writing an account of their journey or a postcard just like local Victorian explorer Herbert Morley used to do.

People can enjoy an ‘Armchair Adventure’ with Bradford City of Film who will live stream a film trail on Facebook on Thursday 9 April. People will be invited to travel back in time through over 100 years of film and television in the Bradford district.

Bradford Cathedral has put together a series on Easter-themed crafts and worksheets for children as well as spiritual resources for adults to help people to discover the Easter Story.

Those wanting to get crafty can join in with the Cecil Green Arts Challenge and have a go at decorating their own Easter bonnet from Friday April 10. Cecil Green Arts would like people to share photos of their wonderful creations over the Easter Weekend by using #BradfordConnects on social media.

The National Trust have put together some how to video guides for people to bring some colourful crafty fun to their Easter celebrations, including making Easter decorations from natural items from your garden and recycled materials.

The National Science and Media Museum have also created a page of blog posts, games and activities that the whole family can have fun trying at home.

The National Theatre will are streaming much loved theatre directly in to living rooms up and down the country. This week’s performance is Charlotte Brontë’s Jayne Eyre. The bold and dynamic production, based on the local writer’s novel, will be available to watch for free from the 9 to 16 April.

The Visit Bradford team have also compiled a Days In guide of things to do whilst following the rules and staying at home.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “We know Easter will be a very different this year, but there’s no reason to think that we can’t celebrate the joy of the festival, even during these difficult times. The staff in our Visit Bradford and our Museums and Galleries teams have done a great job at pulling together this list of ways we can still have a good time even though we have to Stay At Home.

“We would love to see photos of everyone’s colourful artwork and crafts so that we can share the different and creative ways people have celebrated their very own Stay at Home Easter.

“The beautiful landscapes and great places to visit will still be here long after the coronavirus has gone, which is why we are asking people to stay at home and Visit Bradford later.”

Please share your Stay At Home Easter Bank Holiday celebrations across all social media platforms using #VisitBradfordLater

The list of ways to celebrate a Stay At Home Easter can be found at www.visitbradford.com/daysin. People can follow @VisitBradford, @BradfordMuseums and @BradfordMDC on social media.

Information about the coronavirus in the Bradford district can be found on www.bradford.gov.uk/coronavirus, where people can also sign up to receive email alerts from Bradford Council.