I first got involved with Young Gloucestershire in September 2013 when I moved to the Gloucestershire area. I was informed then referred to the Young Gloucestershire team by a former professional I was involved with. This was because I was a new resident and did not have any form of social network around me, the aim of my referral was to make friends and open new doors in my life.

My first initial involvement with YG was attending a youth group called The Hub which was ran every Tuesday. I think that being involved in the youth group was a success because I got to know the staff at YG and also the other members of the group. Unfortunately The Hub Youth Group ended after a period of time due to funding, much to my disappointment. I made a lifelong friend who I still have regular contact with on a weekly basis and I feel that attending the youth group helped me a lot because it broadened my social life and increased my confidence.

After The Hub had ended I sadly didn’t return back to Young Gloucestershire for a while due to personal circumstances becoming apparent in my own life. Although I stopped my involvement at YG, I carried on my student life at Gloucestershire College studying Health and Social Care until one day I received a phone call from Ione Sime. The phone call was in regards to how I was getting on in life and what I was doing with myself on a day to day basis. By the time I received this phone call I had already successfully achieved and completed my Health and Social Care Course and was onto my second year at Gloucestershire College. Following on from that, she was asking if I would be interested in coming back to Young Gloucestershire and getting involved in a Mentoring Scheme.

I thought that I’d give the Mentoring Scheme a try and see what it’s entailed of, so a day was scheduled for me to meet up with Ione and discuss the ins and outs of what mentoring would be. After finding out about the scheme I thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to get involved and see what would come of it. My first meeting with my mentor was just an introducing session and I found it very appealing and positive, I am now in my 6/7th week of my mentoring, I have found it extremely positive and useful in my career path. At the moment we are focusing on the starting points and routes for me to get to my chosen career choice then near future plans are to take part in work experience/voluntary work with my mentor to further my knowledge on different sectors in the social sector.

My experience with Young Gloucestershire and everyone at The Link has been incredibly fun and supportive, everyone is lovely and understanding of myself and my choices. Recently I have discussed with Matt and Sadie about volunteering in local youth clubs that Young Gloucestershire run and I hope that this is a very exciting step along my journey.

Following on from this my life and career has spiralled off in all different exciting journeys. I am now currently an employee of The Warehouse Climbing Centre in Gloucester and also I am now an employee of Rooftop Housing Group as an Engagement Worker. YG informed me about the position at Rooftop and encouraged me to apply for the post, so with help from everyone at The Link I applied for the position and excitedly I was shortlisted. Again with help from everyone at The Link I prepped for the interview, attended and to my excitement, I was successful. I will be starting my new job within the next few weeks and I am excited for my next journey.

Alongside mentoring, college and my 2 jobs, I am also doing other things in my free time. I am doing voluntary work for 2 youth organisations and also getting more involved with YG. In the last couple of weeks I have done a case study with Claire Benjamin and I have also been asked to take part in a promo video for Young Gloucestershire.

I can honestly say that I am at my happiest in life and I cannot express how much YG and everyone at YG have helped and supported me along my journey. Their positive wise words and persistent help has given me the strength to be a better person.

I will be looking forward to whatever my next route is along my very exciting journey.

I have been working at SOSYP for seven months now, after starting as a volunteer during the summer programme. During this time I have worked at four different youth clubs in Cam, Dursley, Wotton and Berkeley.

Before Christmas I was based at Wotton and Berkeley. I really enjoyed delivering activities at these clubs, providing information and guidance and forming some great relationships with the young people. The activities delivered normally fit into a theme for the month; for example last month we did a few sessions focussing on thinking about others and walking in their shoes, which included talking about disabilities and also making poppies for remembrance. I remember, however, that some of our most popular sessions involved food, including a chocolate party and guess the food games – no surprise there!

This term I continued working at Wotton, but swapped to work at Cam and Dursley, too. It has been fun getting to know a number of new young people, and I have been extremely impressed with the brand new Vibe youth centre at Dursley – the facilities there are amazing and there are a large number of young people who are regularly attending sessions there. For the past few weeks we have been delivering activities within the theme of ‘craftiness’and have been busy making badges, creating sand art and ended the term in an Easter egg hunt. We have also looked at some more serious issues, such as cyber bullying, and have offered a C-Card session at Wotton.

However the session that has stood out to me the most was when a member of the Berkeley Town Council visited our youth group last term to discuss with the YP their thoughts on how to improve the town for young people. The young people reacted very positively and had a very good and mature discussion, where they expressed the points of view in extremely articulate ways. I was very impressed with and proud of them for wanting to get involved and change their community for the better.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the past seven months with SOSYP and am looking forward to the final term before the summer. It has been brilliant to work with a variety of young people and to build on my previous youth work experience in such a friendly team, and I am really thankful for this opportunity.

“So what does the Finance Manager at Young Gloucestershire do all day, apart from drinking copious amounts of tea?”

I guess that provided your salary reaches your bank account on the 27th of the month, you have never really wondered what the guy sitting in the corner does apart from payroll. Well, I thought you might find it interesting to know about some of the other things I get up to, so here goes…………

Like any organisation, whether it is commercial or non-profit making, it is imperative that the Trustees and CEO of YG understand its financial health at all times. My main responsibility is to ensure that they do, and give them an early warning of any problems I foresee on the horizon. I regularly speak to Tracy, our CEO, about any financial matters that are of concern to me, and which I feel she should be aware of.

I am a member of the YG Finance Committee which includes Tracy and Jonathan Harvie, one of our Trustees. Each month, I present the Management Accounts to the Committee and we discuss the financial performance for that month and year to date. Any significant deviations from budget are investigated, and if any corrective action is deemed necessary, this will be implemented within the organisation.

I also attend the bi-monthly Trustees Meeting, when I present a summarised version of the Management Accounts to the Trustees, and answer any financial questions raised at the meeting or later by email.

Day to day, I am very much involved in keeping YG functioning, and the key to this is cash flow management. Similar to your household, there are always bills to be paid: insurances, electricity and gas, telephones, rent and rates, and vehicle costs to name a few. If I do not pay these on time, these services could be suspended, and YG would cease to operate. It is therefore vital that I get the cash  into the bank as quickly as possible.

Most of you are involved in activities that earn the cash for YG that ultimately pays your wages. But this does not just happen – our customers will not send a cheque, or make a payment into our bank account, without an invoice from us, so every month I send out invoices to Youth Clubs, Colleges, and all the other organisations and individuals with whom we work. I then monitor these invoices to ensure they are paid on time. Late payers will get a call or email from me to hurry them along.

Other regular duties I perform include administrating petty cash, the lifeline of so many of our activities, and of course processing the payroll.

Among the external agencies I liaise with are the YG banks, HM Revenue and Customs (the “Tax Office”) and our accountants.

Annually, I prepare the YG Financial Statements which we submit to both Companies House and The Charities Commission. These are prepared to a very strict legal format, and have to be signed off by both YG auditors and Trustees. Failure to submit the statements on time will result in a fine for YG.

Together with everything else that I am involved in at this, my busiest time of the year, I am currently doing some preparation to ensure that the new auto enrolment pension scheme is successfully implemented in August.

Probably the most important task I have is to prepare the YG Budget for the next financial year which runs from April to March. The Budget advises the Trustees of how YG is likely to perform financially for the coming 12 months. Once the Budget has been approved by the Trustees, the actual performance during the year is measured against it.

Working as FM at YG is quite different to all the years I have spent in similar roles in manufacturing, and I have had to adapt to the special requirements of charity accounting. However, I can honestly say that I really enjoy both the technical challenges of the job, and the company of the great bunch of dedicated colleagues I work with every day. I hope you have found this summary of my role interesting and I thank you all for the support you give me in keeping the financial wheels of YG turning. Now, after all that, it must be time for a fresh cuppa.

Cheers!

It’s hard to believe in just one month I will have been working at Young Gloucestershire for a year! Time has flown by and the project has grown from strength to strength, with a fantastic team of volunteer mentors driving forward at the frontline of the project to support young people in their next steps. We started from the ground up with this particular piece of work and we now have 43 mentoring relationships established, with 5 new mentee and mentor matches scheduled for initial meetings in the next 2 weeks.

To name but a few achievements of our mentors and mentees in the past 11 months, we have seen mentors raise just under £1000 in fundraising for the project. In addition to this, 10 young people have started working in various different jobs, 7 have started training or college courses and 3 are attending interviews this week for volunteering or work placements. This is just a small snapshot of the outcomes for some of the young people within the project, but for me the highlight has been getting to know individual mentors and mentees, and seeing them grow in both confidence and ability to make positive choices.

Mentors have demonstrated that they have a wealth of knowledge, from both professional and personal experiences, to pass on to young people. More than this they have a genuine desire to help our young people succeed. I have been bowled over time and time again by mentors patience, understanding and ability to remain positive. As a group of individuals they have given more than I ever expected when we started the project, and this has been inspiring for myself and the young people involved. Young people too have made overwhelming developments in the past 11 months. Some have spent the time building the confidence to meet outside of The Link centre and explore volunteering, others have secured a higher education course placement, work experience and job! More than anything young people have demonstrated that with the right one to one support their potential to succeed is very much realised.

In the next 12 months there are lots of exciting things planned. Firstly and most importantly we will continue to grow the mentoring project so that we can reach more NEET young people who need a helping hand to get into work, education or training. We will be hoping to do this in a variety of ways, via corporate mentoring, working with a larger group of young people across the county and continuing to raise funds so that anyone involved in the project has access to the best possible support and training. I am extremely excited about the coming year, and all that is really left to say is a big thank you to everyone involved for all of their support and commitment over the past 12 months. You have made my first year at YG one to remember!

I started my placement at YG in November 2014, working with Greg and the Prince’s Trust Team 171. I was so nervous when I first started because many of the Team were actually older than me, and I felt like I wouldn’t be accepted or respected. This wasn’t the case, as the young people turned out to be even more anxious than me! (However this soon changed when they found their feet!). I learnt how to build productive working relationships with staff and young people, which really helped me because it meant that I was then able to transfer my skills when working with young people other than my Team.

I really enjoyed residential, even though there were a few mishaps with cooking, and I didn’t wake up one night when the Team were being particularly loud! But I felt that I learnt a lot from this week too, especially about how to act in a professional way even though it was so cold, because it was important to keep the Team’s morale high and to keep them going.

Young Gloucestershire has been really supportive in my studies as well, and even though I went home for Christmas, when I came back I was able to get back into the routine of placement very quickly. This was important for me because it meant that I could get back to enjoying my time, working with young people.

I am now assisting on the HITZ programme with Gary which I also relish the challenge of, as it is a more sports based programme and I am not at all sporty! I was able to deliver a session on Values and Beliefs, which I got some great feedback from.

Working at YG has shown me that working with young people is what I really want to do, so thank you to everyone working for all their support and understanding!

Starting in April 2015, an exciting new opportunity has been created, with Stonehouse and Cainscross Youth Clubs working in partnership to continue to offer youth club provisions by Young Gloucestershire. Both youth clubs are keen to develop and continue to support young people between the ages of 11 and 18 years of age, increasing youth club nights of delivery to three sessions at each location. Stonehouse and Cainscross Parish Councils are unique and very lucky as they have some incredible Councillors who are totally committed to the young people in their communities and tirelessly campaign and fundraise for the projects.

In February we had to say our goodbyes to our lovely Laura (travelling in Australia for a year – alright for some!), who has been the Lead Youth Worker at both Stonehouse and Cainscross Youth Clubs for the past two and half years building great relationships and producing some excellent results. Every cloud has a silver lining; the wonderful Lucy has taken on the role of Lead Youth Worker, with support from marvellous Matt and awesome Amy who are keen to build on the work and legacy that Laura has accomplished, both with the local community and the young people who attend the youth club.

There are plenty of exciting times coming up at Stonehouse and Cainscross Youth Clubs, with summer knocking at our door ready for BBQ’s, sport and outdoor activities as well as offering support with revision and coursework for those who are doing their GCSE’s and A Level’s.

So come along and meet the friendly team of Youth Workers!

Stonehouse Youth Club is located at the new youth building at Oldends Lane, open on a Tuesday 7.30pm – 9.30pm, Thursday 5pm – 7pm and Friday 7.30pm – 9.30pm.

Cainscross Youth Club is located at Victory Park Pavilion, open on a Tuesday 5pm – 7pm, Thursday 7.30pm – 9.30pm and Friday 5pm – 7pm.

April….showers, chocolate, bank holidays, oh, and the end of the financial year!

April signifies lots of things for lots of people, but it is also a huge milestone in most people’s financial calendars. It’s the time of year when businesses and charities need to tie up loose ends, do lots of sums and recount for their activity over the last year.

Alongside all the sums and money stuff, it is also a time of year that we reflect on what we have achieved. In my role as Marketing and Fundraising Executive I produce YG’s Annual Review. This document brings together statistical information about what we have done over the year with stories about real people we have worked with and the successes they have had.

It’s a challenging and fulfilling document to work on. For me the statistics prove really interesting and allow us to make clear comparisons year on year. But it is the stories from young people that really grab my attention. While preparing for the document I get to go out and visit young people, either on their YG programmes, during their work experience or even a few months later when they have finished with YG and are working somewhere. I really enjoy the chance to meet young people and hear about their experience of working with YG. No two stories are the same. Each young person comes to us with their own set of challenges and are at different points in their journey. But what inspires me every time is their enthusiasm and determination to succeed no matter what.

Sometimes it is easy to get lost amongst the big picture, the finances and figures. Every now and again it is helpful to listen to the individual stories of young people, to hear how far they have come and how they have been supported to get there. For me these stories help show the true value of the charity and certainly make me feel proud to be part of an organisation that support these kind if achievements.

The latest copy of the Annual Review will be available in early summer. If you would like to receive a copy you can contact us at hello@youngglos.org.uk or you will be able to download a copy from the website.

It has been a whirlwind first couple of weeks at YG; lots of training and information to take in to prepare me for my first Prince’s Trust Team.

The YG team have been nothing but inviting, full of advice and encouragement, which makes a new job so much easier. I’ve been lucky enough to follow a bit of the beginning, midway point and end of the current Team Programme’s running.

A highlight of my first few weeks is being able to attend the final week’s celebration of Greg’s team and seeing their achievements. The programme has got me excited to bring my own stamp to my first team here at YG.

Since the start of Jan 2015 we have had lots of exciting things happening in SOSYP (South of Stroud Youth Partnership).  Our biggest change this term has been the opening and delivery taking place at Dursley’s brand spanking new youth centre, VIBE.  A purpose built, vibrant, safe place for young people to go so they can access information, advice and guidance in Dursley.  The youth centre is a partnership with the Town Council and other delivery partners such as The Tabernacle Church, The Door, Rednock School, ConnectAT and hopefully more community groups soon.  The centre has been used already by over 50 young people and the numbers keep growing.  We are running an open session on a Monday from 6.30-8.30pm and a café style session on Thursdays from 3.30-5.30pm.

Elsewhere within the project we have been continuing to support young people in Wotton, Berkeley & Cam, and over Half Term we run a sports Leadership Course, First Aid & Food Hygiene course which were all well received by those who attended.

This coming term we are developing a garden & building project at Vibe, just in time for the nice summer weather and we are planning loads of informative and fun sessions such as cooking, cyber safety and Easter activities.  Call Vix Thomas on 07969 955419 to find out what is going on in your area.

At Young Gloucestershire, we are all excited about the opportunity in delivering NCS – National Citizen Service – during spring-summer and autumn to over 300 young people. This will be the 3rd year that Young Gloucestershire has been involved in this amazing project and the recruitment is well under way with presentations at school assemblies.

National Citizen Service (NCS) is open to all 16 and 17-year-olds in England.

It helps you build your skills for work and life, while you take on new challenges and meet new friends.

It runs in the spring, summer and autumn. You’ll have a short time away from home and take part in a team project that will help your community.

NCS brings together young people from different backgrounds and helps them develop greater confidence, self-awareness and responsibility. It encourages personal and social development by working on skills such as leadership, teamwork and communication.

Participants develop a social action project to deal with a local issue they’re passionate about, and spend 30 hours putting the project into action in their community.

Would you like to take part on NCS?

If you’re 16 or 17 and have not taken part on NCS before then why don’t you get in touch with the NCS Team on 01452 501008 or by email at ncs@youngglos.org.uk.

Find out more information at www.youngglos.org.uk/ncs/.

This year is going to be amazing so why don’t you ‘SAY YES to NCS’.

In early 2014 we had a crazy idea that we might do the three peaks challenge. This involved walking three mountains in less than three days. We made some plans and started organising for a mini bus to undertake the challenge. Little did we know that there would be so much interest that we would be taking three mini buses and people carriers and 29 people would complete the challenge. We raised over £14,000 which has been put to use supporting young people who are facing challenges in their lives.

We decided it was time for a new challenge and this time we would stay closer to home, so we are taking on the Cheltenham Challenge. In one quick email to the staff and trustees, we already have ten sign ups with people doing a mixture of running and walking and a range of distances.

What is so good with this event is you can do anything from a 5k run or walk to an ultra-marathon which is 78k. So I spent the weekend investing in a new pair of running trainers. Apparently they are only good for 500 miles and my last pair are over five years old so they have now been replaced with a fetching green pair. I then proceeded to pound the pavements and began my training. I was pleased to turn up in the office on Monday morning to hear that others had also had a go at ‘very slow jogging’ over the weekend.

It seems that running mania may be taking over in the Young Gloucestershire building and a group of YG runners are starting to prepare for the challenge of 2015. So are you new to running or an experienced runner? Do you want to join our 10k walking team? Are you passionate about YG? Then why not get in touch and add your name to the growing list of people setting out on Young Gloucestershire’s 2015 challenge in Cheltenham.

To register your interest, please email: tracy.clark@youngglos.org.uk.

My journey at YG started 4 years ago, as a nervous University student, in my first year of my Youth Work degree.

I met Tracy at the University on a recruitment drive for volunteers for the NCS programme, shortly after I met Kay who interviewed me; I was delighted to join YG on delivering the first NCS programme. That summer was a great introduction to the organisation, a whirlwind of working with teams of young people, going out on activities that not only challenged the young people but myself too, spending hours driving young people to the countryside on residential trips. Somewhere between the coasteering, learning to hula hoop and building my confidence in working with young people I knew I wanted to keep this up.

At the end of the summer, Kay encouraged me to apply for a programme leader’s job delivering a new sports course at YG. I was successful in my application and started soon after. 18 months later, having nearly completed my degree (with a few tears along the way…) I had completed work on 20 Sporting Chances projects with over  150 young people, supporting them to re-engage with education, employment and training. There are too many laughs and treasured memories from this project, but a couple that stand out in my memory is being in sub-zero temperatures with Niki Clarke in the Forest of Dean on the side of a rock face, trying to scramble our way to the top of a very muddy slope after a very long few days, as well as to locking Tom Saunders out of the Youth Hostel in the middle of the night and falling fast asleep!

Shortly after completing my degree and achieving a great result, thanks to a whole world of support and encouragement from line managers, mentors and colleagues, I joined the Youth Work Team to deliver the Skills for Adolescence course in schools across the county and to work in two local youth clubs – Stonehouse and Cainscross.

The work in schools provided me with a great opportunity to work with other organisations such as Ambition and meet other workers from across the country. I was able to gain some valuable skills in delivering a curriculum based personal education programme in a class room environment alongside some excellent teachers.

But the youth clubs is where I really found my feet; I loved this work and feel immensely proud of what was achieved. Stonehouse Youth Club was being run out of the back of a Youth Bus, with limited space and resources we would be there come rain or snow with a hot chocolate and a listening ear, while we waited patiently for a new purpose built youth club in Stonehouse and for access and enough young people to attend the Pavilion in Victory Park – Cainscross too, was not much more than a detached project.

Stonehouse and Cainscross councils are unique and very lucky, they have some incredible councillors who are totally committed to young people who tirelessly campaign and fundraise for the projects.

At Stonehouse, this time last year we finally got our youth club! We had an amazing opening event and party in the park and since then the youth club has gone from strength to strength. The Victory Park Pavilion too had a great make over, a new sign to go above the door – that was a proud moment and a great deal of support from local funders for trips, activities and resources. We have great relationships with the young people in these areas and have worked so hard to provide them with quality and consistency. Developing these projects has given me a great deal of job satisfaction and taught me a great deal.

I am pleased to say that the development work at Cainscross and Stonehouse continues, the nights of delivery are increasing to 3 nights a week and lots of great plans for the summer are in the pipe line. But for me it is time to move on to pastures new. I am packing my back pack and heading to Australia for a year. I plan to travel initially and then carry out 2, 6 month placements at youth work organisations down under. I hope that this experience will inspire me further for the next chapter of my youth work journey.

It has been an incredible 4 years, not to mention the small matter of climbing 3 mountains, raising a whole load of money for youth work services with a bunch of work mates, all I can say is a huge THANKS to everyone at YG, the Schools and Local Councils for challenging me every step of the way. I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone and their projects via social media. Good luck and all the best for 2015!