The silence following the completion of Team 170 has been deafening. They were my first Prince’s Trust Team and while we did have our low moments during those 12 weeks, they were vastly outweighed by the positive ones.

The 12 young people, who completed the course at the end of January, were a lively, savvy and committed bunch who impressed me so much, especially when it came to challenges like their Community Project and Final Team Challenge.  They were never short of ideas, sometimes of the slightly ridiculous or impractical variety, and never short of stories which would leave the rest of the Team in a state of utter disbelief and hysterics.

A highlight for me as the Team Leader was the community project. I was so impressed with their Dunkirk spirit, facing a difficult task given the size and state of the garden project they had taken on and difficult conditions as the wet weather turned parts of the garden into swamps. Our improvised duckboards even started disappearing into the mud at points. Despite all this, the Team stuck to the task at hand, completed every aspect of the plan they had intended to and finished the 2 weeks having transformed an inaccessible bramble patch into an attractive and usable space for the residents of the supported housing centre.

The Team concluded their journey with a celebration event at the Gloucester Chinese Resource Centre. This was well attended by the Team members’ family, support workers and friends who joined the Team in celebrating their achievements.  For some, including myself, this was an emotional occasion. There was laughter and tears but no one left the room without recognising that a huge amount had been achieved, boundaries had been stretched and that those 12 individuals had become 1 Team.

So after a few weeks of marking folders and recruiting, I am ready for my next challenge – Team 173. I feel considerably more prepared for what the next 12 weeks will bring and I am excited about the new young people I have met over the last couple of weeks. I have seen a lot of potential and met young people brimming with ambition, looking for a kick start to their next steps. While Team 170 will be tough to replace and will always hold a special place for me as my first Team, I am feeling really positive about Team 173 and our upcoming ventures.

My fifth team has started and it definitely came as a surprise for me. I’d just come back from four weeks in Australia, walked through the front door on Monday to be greeted by Tom, who informed me that my team was starting on Tuesday….definitely brought me back down to earth with a bang.

The first week was all a bit of a blur, running off very little sleep was a challenge. Luckily the team were amazing and took part in every activity. It was great to see them go from not talking to each other in the first hour, to being practically inseparable by the end of day one and every day since.

Residential is something that every team is really excited about. We got the opportunity to be guinea pigs at a new centre and the young people had an amazing time. They were able to pick what activities they did each day and what time they wanted the instructors to turn up in the morning. This gave them real control and ownership of how their week was going to pan out. Everyone took part in the challenges they had set and overcame fears. A couple of the young people were adamant that they weren’t going to go rock climbing, but as soon as they were set the challenge of climbing the equivalent of Big Ben, The Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building, they were practically running up and down the walls.

The past couple of weeks have seen the team planning and preparing for their Community Project at The White House next week, where they will be renovating their gardens so that they can be used by the residents. They’ve started raising money to complete the project and on Friday they spent the day in Eastgate Shopping Centre, where they rowed 21miles, from Dover to Calais and they are planning on completing a sponsored rock climb, climbing the equivalent of the Burj Khalifa (828m) this week. They are really excited and positive about the work they want to complete. I’ve never had a team that were actually excited about doing gardening in the middle of February.

Hearing some of the young people make comments about how close they had all become over the past three weeks was really sweet. Having a team that all get on really well is rare sometimes and having the opportunity to work with them is a real pleasure. I’m really looking forward to the next 8 weeks with Team 172 and getting the chance to help them to realise and achieve their potential.

It has been particularly busy of late so I thought I would take a breather and reflect on a day in the life of a CEO to give you an idea of what sort of things I get up to:

Today started with some preparation for a meeting I have later today with the Commercial Group. We are looking at creating work opportunities for young people with training attached. It’s an innovative project and will give some real opportunities to young people in Gloucestershire.

Second on the agenda today was meeting with a potential new trustee. YG has seven dedicated trustees with a range of skillsets and knowledge including: commercial, HR, property, youth work and legal. We, however. currently have a gap in knowledge around post 16 education and are seeking to welcome another trustee. I am hopeful after today’s meeting we might have found the right person.

Next on the agenda for the day is a good part of the job and that is to confirm appointments to Young Gloucestershire. We have recently secured new work to deliver NCS; this is a programme designed to encourage 16 and 17 years olds to get involved in social action in their communities. Young Gloucestershire will be working with 255 young people this summer on this programme. We have therefore been recruiting new programme leaders to work on this and our other development programmes such as Prince’s Trust Team.  We will be recruiting for an administrator for this project later on in the week also.

There was just time to grab some lunch before my meeting with Commercial Group. We spent the afternoon exploring options and opportunities. We are planning a focus group with young people to test our ideas and creating a proposal to present next week for the project.

That left just enough time to check in with the team who had delivered the NCS presentation’s in local schools this morning to see how it went.

I think it is hard to say what is an average day in the life of a CEO but what it always involves is young people, YG staff members, partners and agencies and money. A lot of my time is spent looking at the future and what is next for YG and I am currently excited by some of the projects that we are starting to explore developing with other organisations. Watch this space for more information…

Last month The Link celebrated its 2nd year of successfully working with 16-25 years olds, supporting them to get back into education, employment or training. What better way to celebrate than with a birthday party!

It was a great opportunity for existing partner organisations to come along and share in our successes. Also for those organisations not already involved with The Link, to see what we do and how they can work with us in the future. Some new partnerships were formed and future projects set in motion.

It was good to see so many faces at the party. It was especially nice to see some of the young people we have helped over the last two years. It was a nice surprise to welcome BBC Radio Gloucestershire who came along to speak to the young people. They shared how The Link has helped them, I was proud when I heard the broadcast on the radio the next day.

There was also an opportunity to showcase how we help and support young people. We were able to show everyone who came along how much The Link has changed over the last two years. These changes include us now working with the Big Lottery Fund and new building work. We have recently had the back rooms of The Link and the kitchen developed. This allows more space for us to support the young people.

I am looking forward to another successful year of working with young people, to help them to achieve their goals!!!

I have been heavily involved with the national Rugby programme HITZ run in partnership with Gloucester Rugby Club’s community department. The programme is for young people aged 16-18 who have an interest in sport, not necessarily rugby. There is no minimum qualification level to join HITZ and we are engaging with a diverse range of young people.

The ethos of the programme is based around core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship and all young people entering the programme are expected to embody these values. The programme is designed to offer nationally recognised qualifications; these include functional skills Maths & English, sport & leisure, employability, community sports leaders’ award and emergency first aid.

All young people will explore the sport and leisure industry and learn skills that will make them more employable in that sector and in the wider jobs market.  As part of the HITZ programme, young people have opportunities to gain valuable work experience. The course involves a high proportion of practical learning with young people gaining experience in a range of sports and sporting environments.

I am thoroughly enjoying delivering such a diverse programme, using sport to motivate and educate young people.

Last month the young parents group called ViParents secured a small pot of funding for the idea they put forward to the Money for Life challenge and work has now got under way to turn the idea into a reality!

During past weekly sessions, the young parents have often shared ideas of places to visit, activities to do and ways of entertaining their children without busting the budget. Through these discussions the group felt it may be a good idea to put together all of these ideas into a little booklet and try and get them out and about to other young parents in Gloucester. Some of the parents attending do not have easy access to the Internet and therefore having a quick pocket size reference tool they felt would not only be useful but also beneficial for those times when either money is tight or its pouring with rain outside.

So ‘Free and Fun Days in Gloucester- a young parents guide’ was born and the group are all working hard to produce detailed and informative content. To date, this has involved numerous Internet searches, brainstorming sessions, telephone calls and pooling of previous experiences to make sure what is going to be included is real and relevant to what young parents may want to know.

The booklet will include places that parents can visit for free with details of what facilities are available as well as its location including how far it is from the town centre and whether its access is suitable for buggy’s and toddlers. As well as this there will be a useful contacts section, information about cheap deals available such as weekend morning cinema trips and activities to do at home or in your local area for all weather conditions.

So as you can tell the ViParent’s have been a busy lot and there is still a lot to do but things are well underway and everyone is excited to see the finished product when it arrives hot from the printers. Watch this space to see how it turns out.

Kayleigh Ward, Youth Work Apprentice at Young Gloucestershire, talks about her move to work on the Development Team supporting the delivery of the Prince’s Trust Team.

I am excited to be supporting the Prince’s Trust Team I nearly did team as a young person but took a different journey and then completed my Level 2 in youth work and am currently doing my Level 3.

I have heard that the course is a fully packed 12 weeks and there are some really great activities. I am looking forward to giving young people a helping hand and trying to achieve these young people’s potential.

My first week on this project was fun. We went out and about promoting in shopping centres, visiting people and phoning people on recruitment to find young people to join our TEAM!! We have recruited 15 young people and I am looking forward to getting to know them more.

I can’t wait to start working with the young people to see the difference in job roles as well as how team works. I think I will really enjoy this job role as it’s something different and it will also give me new skills.

I am very grateful for being offered this role and I will try my best at all aspects.

One of the main reasons that I wanted to become involved with the Mentoring programme at Young Gloucestershire, is because I felt it was a tremendous opportunity to utilise my skills and experiences to pass on to a willing youngster, who is desperate to get on in life.

Young Gloucestershire provide a perfect opportunity to support you in your work and offer free training, to ensure that you are best prepared for all types of situations in the Mentoring field. Whilst I am at the early stages with my mentee, the signs are positive and I hoping that my ‘wisdom’ can be taken and used to great effective.

Surely if I can help at least one person achieve their dreams- projects such as this can only be a good thing!

A massive thank you to Ione for the opportunity. Her drive and enthusiasm has shone through and she has been a credit to Young Gloucestershire. Long may it continue.

My reasons for joining the Prince’s Trust Programme were to continue my education and gain some more qualifications. I thought it was also an easy way to meet new people.

When I first started the course I was unsure how the course would benefit me and wasn’t sure about whether I would stay till the end and was nervous about meeting new people.

For me the hardest part of the course was the confidence side of things, meeting new people and getting to know them enough to be comfortable going away with them after only knowing them for a few days.

When I first started the course I wouldn’t talk to anyone and kept myself to myself. But throughout the course my confidence and communication skills have come a long way and during the 12 weeks I have met and worked with some amazing people and have made some great memories with them and our lovely team leader, Mummy Niki and have taken some weird pictures with Char, who has made this course hilarious.

I have enjoyed so much about the course; I even fed a duck with my hand.  I loved meeting everyone on Team 169, especially Char! I’m glad I got to share this experience with them and Niki and being able to try new things with them.

After doing this course I will be continuing my part time job at Highfield Garden Centre and hopefully get a full time job or start volunteering.

Over the past few months I have been visiting members of the YG partnership scheme.  The scheme offers youth clubs county wide support. Whether a club is a start-up, volunteer led or run by paid staff we offer a whole range of service. These include: access to reduced insurance, policy writing support, a safeguarding hotline and free (or heavily discounted) training.

I have been to see over 30 partner clubs and organisations in the last four months who are members of this scheme.  In addition to the benefits mentioned above we have been able to offer bespoke training and resources on cyber safety in the last few months thanks to funding from the Police and Crime Commission.

I have been amazed at the amount of people working out in the community with young people. From the clubs I have visited there are 120 volunteers and over 55 paid staff members. There is a lot going on in the county for young people and we don’t always talk about it.

The two most challenging areas highlighted by the clubs I visited were accessing funding and engaging YP on the fringes of their provisions.  Other challenges clubs are facing is the lack of volunteers and accessing training for staff.  Not only do these amazing staff and volunteers work with young people they are also looking at ways to make their projects sustainable. Many of the clubs do their own fundraising events to raise money. Others access funding from the PCC, through parish councils or housing providers in the area.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit many of these projects and see some of the great things happening in the county. It has been a really interesting process, travelling around the beautiful countryside, visiting a varied array of youth clubs, and seeing the many dedicated staff and volunteers doing amazing work with young people in the county.

Our partner club scheme is constantly growing and there are always more things we can be doing.  If you are interested in joining the scheme or you would like a visit and haven’t received one please get in touch.  Alternatively if there is anything we can do for you, your young people or your community, please let us know.

The reason why I joined the Prince Trust 12 week programme was because I needed to find some direction and routine in my life. I also wanted to meet new people and gain some more confidence within myself.

I thought the programme looked interesting and a lot of fun. I was originally a bit nervous before the second residential week because it was facing my fears that I knew was going to be a difficult challenge. However, it was really good fun and I would recommend this programme to anyone.

The hardest part for me was abseiling in the residential week because I was really scared of heights and it was my biggest fear. I did it but it challenged me to get out of my comfort zone.

In my eyes I would describe working in a team as everyone being equal and being able to share their ideas with the rest of the team. It is also about looking out for each other and supporting the team through difficult situations. And one main aspect of the team is strength.

Since starting the Prince Trust 12 week programme, I have moved forward as an individual by becoming more confident within myself. I feel that I have shown my true self more and met some awesome people. I have learnt that I can do things if I put my mind to it.

The most enjoyable part of the programme was going coasteering which was awesome but also very daunting. My biggest achievement was performing my own song in front of a crowd in my work placement week. I was very nervous because it was a new song which I had written and it was the first time I was performing the song, but it went well.

After this programme I would like to use the skills that I have learnt throughout the course in order to help Young Gloucestershire by working with young people and to try and get them in to music.