Downham Youth Project

Whats going on at DYP!

2011-10-31T09:40:00.001Z

There have been some significant changes over the last two months.
We are now running an after school club on Tuesdays for 11-14, 3-5 pm. We are launching this week a second after school club on Thursdays for 14-17, 3-5 pm. We also run other events as well as doing detached work.

Downham Methodist have started running coffee mornings for the project on Saturday mornings from 9.30-12. These include bring and buy, a book stall as well as cakes and refreshments. They have already raised over £500 for the project.

We have also had £1000 in one off personal donations from supporters and are hopeful if gaining some small grants. We are also starting to gain some regular supporters which really helps us to be able to plan ahead. These are all vital in keeping the project going as major grants have now finished.

For more information about events coming up check our calendar on the website.

The way ahead

2011-07-21T11:16:00.005+01:00

There are significant challenges ahead but we are determined to make sure that there are positive opportuities for young people in Downham Market. Three of the major grants for the project come to an end this term, it has not roven possible to repace all of this large income for the project and so we are changing and moving in a new direction.

The work the project has been doing supporting young people in the High School will now come directly under the school as part of the new part time jobs that both Amy and Ben have working for the Behaviour Support team. This means they will have more opportunity to support young people and the project has less financial burdens for this part of the work.

Nurture is similarly changing and beoming part of the work of the Downham Market Sure Start Childrens Centre. The project will still have some input but the day to day running of the project will be part of the childrens centre work. We think this will be beneficial for young parents as the childrens centre is well placed to support them.

Our after schools youth cafe will continue on Tuesdays from 3 - 5pm and we hope to see a new influx of year 7's coming along in September. We will also be continuing to develop our Friday evenings, we will still have some regualr detached sessions but also space for running events for young people like the Disco/Karaoke's we have run over the last few months. We want this to be run in response to young people and the things they are interested in having happen.

Our latest Newsletter for the summer is out and can be downloaded from News tab on our website here. if you would like to receive updates on the project please email us and we will add you to our supporters list.

Ben

New projects for DYP

2011-03-15T10:36:00.003Z

Since we last updated you on the work of DYP we have seen some significant changes in the project.

Work related learning
We are now working with the Work Related Learning Project which is run by the County Council's Youth Service team to deliver a program based on accrediting practical learning. This takes place on Thursdays from 8:30 - 3pm and Ben is working with the Youth Service to deliver the project. It is a great piece of work to be involved with and it is also bringing in some more funding to the project.

Lost and Found
Ben and Amy have now been trained to deliver the Lost and Found course which is designed to help small groups of young people deal positively with experiences of loss like bereavement and divorce. This will be something we will be looking to deliver in partnership with local schools.

Nurture
Nurture has also been relaunched with it now meeting every other week at the Youth Hut on Fridays from 1 to 2:30pm. Amy is also working with the Children's Centre (formerly Sure Start) at Clack Close to support young parents and build bridges for the project.

Looking forward!

2011-01-24T15:20:00.002Z

Well a belated happy new year, hope you are had a great time over Christmas holidays with friends and family. It's now 2011 then so a good time to be thinking about the future and where we go from here.

Tough Times
Well I do think that 2011 could be a really significant year for the project and already there are early signs of growth to come. We are all facing tough times and some major changes seem to be ahead over the next few months. It seems that due to major budget cuts the face of youth work in Norfolk will be changing dramatically with seemingly total cuts in Youth Service provision from the County Council. However there may be new things that develop in this process and we are trying to go against the tide and push forward to do more for young people in our area!

Recycling
At DYP we are trying to look at different ways of raising support for the project so as well as applying for grants and seeking local supporters we are also doing some RECYCLING. We are encouraging people to bring along old mobile phones, CD's, DVD's and printer cartridges which we can then recycle to help the planet as well as gaining some financial support for the project. So if you do have some old mobiles cluttering the house or some CD's and DVD's your not sure why you bought we are happy to recycle them for you! Even mobiles that don't work can be recycled in the scheme. CD's and DVD's do need to come in their packing so we can scan the barcodes in order to recycle them.

Newsletter
We will also be producing a new newsletter in the next few weeks so watch this space, it will be downloadable from the website as the previous ones are (under the news tab), so do pass it on to people you think would be interested.

Well from all of us at the DYP we hope you all have a fantastic new year!

Happy Christmas

2010-12-20T11:56:00.002Z

Well it is the season again for remembering how God touched the world through the birth and life of Jesus. So from us at the Downham Youth Project we hope you enjoy this season spending time with family and friends and reflecting on Gods gift to us as we give to others.

The Youth Cafe's have been open now for nearly a month and it has been great to see young people coming into the building, using the equipment and having a good time. After a slow start the evening Youth Cafe's are really starting to build up and we had 13 young people (15-18) on Friday evening for the end of term party for the older young people. We have had about 20 different young people coming to the evening sessions with a solid core of about 8 who seem to come whenever they can.

The after school club has been solid with about 5 most sessions and we will be looking to advertise this more heavily in January doing some assemblies in the school. It has been good through to see new young people we have not worked with before coming in to the project and having a good time. I think the very cold weather has not helped with these younger ones, but hopefully we'll see some more new faces in January.

As a team it has been great this last couple of months now we know where we are to get stuck into doing some more youth work and we have seen an increase in the mentoring we are doing in school with us seeing 4 young people each week on a one to one basis giving support and encouraging them to reach their full potential.

We are planning the re-launch of the Nurture project as well in the new year and will keep you posted as to when that starts off again as a drop in for the young parents of Downham Market, giving them opportunity to support each other and take a breather from their busy lives with a cup of coffee and a listening ear.

We will be looking to do some more fund raising events after the success of the Summer Fayre in the new year and want to thank you in advance for your support with these. Wishing you all the best for the Christmas break.

Ben Hyde

Youth Cafe's OPEN!!!

2010-11-29T15:15:00.003Z

We have been working hard and been trying to stay patient over the last couple of months getting ready to open up here at the Youth Hut and we have finally opened!!!

A few thank you's; firstly to the Town Council and the Methodist Church/Circuit for their continued support for the project. Thanks go to the Downham Market Youth Council for funding our lovely sofa's and fridge and thanks to MADAS for funding our new carpet and other small bits of furniture.

The building is now looking really good thanks to the hard work of the Community Payback team getting the whole place repainted.

So now we are open on Tuesdays from 3 - 5pm for young people aged 11 - 14's and on Thursday evenings for 14 - 18's from 7:30 - 9:30pm. We have a great internet suite up and running as well as a great pool table (donated by Methwold Methodist Church). We also have a great chill out area with our Wii and lots of other things to do as well.

So if you are aged between 11 and 18 come down and check the place out it is free to come in and use everything, we just charge for drinks and food. Check out our new poster and let everyone know we are ready and open for business!!!

Rock school, summer fayre and other highlights!

2010-10-01T20:58:00.003+01:00

The summer has been fairly quiet as both Nicky and then Paul moved on from the project and we moved buildings and are refurbishing the building so we can open but here are some highlights of what we have been upto.

Rock School
In the middle of August Ben and Paul went to Holt Hall to help the County Council run a residential week. The week was a rock school and there was professional tuition and the week ended with a concert where they performed songs they had written themselves as well as a Kings of Leon song.

Summer Fayre
At the end of August we had a Summer Fayre at the Downham Market Methodist Church. It was an excellent event with lots of games, stalls and support from local shops and the community as a whole. Through the event including donations from the Lions and Lionesses we raised just under £500.

Building Refurb
The last few weeks our office has moved into the new "Youth Hut" opposite the Howdale Community Centre. We have been working on preparing the building including knocking two rooms into one, getting the place painted through the community service "Payback" team, and trying to get new furniture. We have been making some real progress with this, and are hopeful it will be completed in the next few weeks.

New Youth Cafes
When the building is up and running we will be launching two weekly Youth Cafe style sessions. One will be after school (3 - 5pm) for 11-15's on a Tuesday and the other will be an evening (7:30 - 9:30pm) for 14-18's on Thursday's. Hopefully we will soon know when the building will be ready and will be able to plan a launch event for these.

News for July

2010-07-30T07:40:00.003+01:00

ATC/Youth Hut
We are now in the old ATC building or Youth Hut!!! The council have been working hard in early July to get the building ready for use and we are now working on furnishing the place and getting it ready for launching in September. It is great to finally be able to have a place that we can make a safe space for the young people to use. We are just waiting for broadband and we'll move our office into the building.

Voicebox
We have started working with The Matthew Project's Voicebox, running a mobile youth club using their Voicebox trailer. On Thursday evenings from July to September we will be working with them to open the voicebox to offer young people the chance to access advice and support around issues of drugs and alcohol but also just a general place to meet for a chat.

Nicky moving on
This month will see Nicky's last working sessions with the project, she doesn't finish officially until the end of August but will be on Annual leave from 31st July. Nicky has been working for the project for the last three years and has really helped it develop to where it is today. She will be missed by the team and the young people. Nicky is starting a new exciting role in Bassingstoke helping to establish a project working with families in the community.

June update

2010-06-25T11:29:00.003+01:00

Welcome to another update from Downham Youth Project.

ATC update
The latest news with regards to the use of the ATC hut is that we should be starting to move into the hut in July. The are a few health and safety thing that are currently being carried out by the council to ready the hut for use and then we should be able to start making the space usable for the project. We should be launching the new building more fully in September when it should be ready for action. Watch this space.

Plans for September
In September the project will be making some significant changes, we will be having a change in our staffing and will just have two paid staff myself and one part time youth worker (about 20 hours). However we are applying for funding so that we can increase this to three (including myself) full time workers, hopefully by Jan 2011.
We will also be changing how some of the groups run during the interim period with only two workers. We will be running 1 evening youth club (7:30-9:30), 1 afterschool club (3-5) and 1 detached session as well as doing some support work with the school. We will also be trying to expand the work of the Nurture project. We will also continue to be involved in the Cafe Church project with the Methodist Church.

Nurture hits the streets
Nurture have decided to get outside for the next few weeks going out into the community to build relationships with more young parents before a re-launch of the project in September. It will be good for the project to become more well known in the community focusing on building links before re-launching in the ATC in September.

Summer residential's
The County Council are offering very subsidised places on five residential's planned for the summer period. Two are weekends away for 11-12 and 13-14 year olds involving outdoor experiences, the other three are focused on specific interests; football, street dance and rock school, for 14-16 year olds. Two of the workers for the project will be supporting the Rock School Camp which is happening on the 16th to 20th August. For more information contact the team.

Thats all for now but watch this space for more updates on the project and its work.

Moving forward

2010-05-10T15:23:00.006+01:00

Well the last month or more so, has seen a few key changes in the work of DYP.

Funding
We are currently seeking some substantial income for the project so that it can move forward and develop, especially for salaries for our workers to increase the staffing we have. So please do send up some prayers for us about that.

Mentoring
For the last couple of months now we have been doing some mentoring in the High School here. We meet with a small group of young people each week to offer them some informal support and a safe space to off load. At the moment with the group being fairly new we are still establishing good relationships and building trust. We hope this will be a positive support for these young people who are having a hard time in school.

Easter activities
Over the Easter break we ran some fun sessions with the young people in partnership with the County Council. On the 6th we had a DJ night with two full set ups for the young people to try out. On the 13th we had a crazy messy games evening which was a lot of fun but took some cleaning up after. On the 14th we had a graffiti workshop and had some of the young people adding to our graffiti wall.

Nurture
On the 21st of April Nurture (the young parents group) launched at the Methodist Church. The group has started well and has seen several different young parents come along. It will be exciting to see this important work develop over the coming months.

New equipment
We have also got a lot of new equipment for the project from a grant by the Grassroots fund administered by the Norfolk Community Foundation. This has included 5 computers, a digital projector, a second DJ deck and PA speakers so we have a full fledged multi-media suite of equipment. We are just looking forward to moving into the new building so we can have all of this equipment available to the young people more readily.

Things are definitely progressing however there is still some uncertainty about the future development of the project so please do pray we can get into the building soon and we secure the necessary finance to increase our staffing levels.

Ben

Sad goodbye to Thomas Jay Williams

2010-04-05T12:29:00.007+01:00

Thomas Jay Williams R.I.P.
This month has seen the tragic death of friend and apprentice Thomas Jay Williams. He was an asset to the project and a great friend to many, he will be sadly missed. He will be remembered for his infectious sense of fun. His funeral on the 23rd March 2010 saw a huge number of people coming together to celebrate his life and say goodbye to their friend or relative.

TNP
The project has also moved, the project has had its final session in the Mind building. On the 30th March we had our first session in the Youth and Community Centre on the Howdale. It is early days but it seems to be a good move and the new found sense of space has been a real plus to the project.

Wednesday Youth Club?
We have also had our first Wednesday evening session for older young people (it is from school year 10, 14 years old to school year 13, 18 years old). It will be good for the older young people to have a session specially for them where we can give them the attention they deserve. At the moment this group has no name and we are discussing ideas with the young people who are attending for a suitable suggestion. The group meets every two weeks as we are alternating with another group who use the building. We are hoping in the future that this group will become weekly and at that point the TNP nights will become for a younger age group.

IT equipment
We have also had confirmation this month that we have been awarded just under £5000 for purchasing IT and other multi-media equipment for the project by Grassroots, a fund administered by the Norfolk Community Foundation, so a BIG thank you to them!

For your prayers I would ask that you remember Tom's family and friends at this time as they try to come to terms with their loss.

Zip wires and pancakes!

2010-02-26T11:32:00.004Z

Hello everyone,

Well February has been a fun month here at the DYP project. There have been various things going on including the Raw Edge weekend (10 - 14), a youth lead poker night (not as bad as it sounds) and of course the traditional pancakes night.

You can also now download the new DYP newsletter straight from our website here. This will be coming out once a term, so this is the spring term offering for the project talking about the months January - April 2010. The newsletter includes a couple of interviews, a round up of whats been happening, predictions for the future of the project and other stories as well, so do check it out.

Well back to this month, on the 5th of Feb Ben went away with 12 young people and several leaders from the Methodist Circuit for an action packed weekend away. This was the first of its kind in the circuit and was trying to draw together young people who are linked to Methodist churches from all over this part of Norfolk. It was an excellent time including some great outdoor activities like canoeing, climbing walls and a zip wire. The young people got on well together and I think some friendships have been forged that will last. There was also a DVD produced over the weekend highlighting some of the activities and providing lasting memories for the young people. Due to the success of this weekend we are looking into planning something similar for the 14 - 18's (sometime in November 2010), which should give more of the young people from the DYP project a chance to go as well.

We have also started having more involvement from some of the apprentices in our TNP (Tuesday Night Project) evenings. We recently had a poker night organised by one of our apprentices in response to demand from the young people. There was of course no real gambling going on just some fun cards games, however the young people really enjoyed themselves so congratulations to our apprentice.

We always enjoy a bit of cooking at TNP, especially Ben with his sweet tooth. Therefore when shove Tuesday came we had to have a bit of a pancakes party to celebrate. The young people enjoyed eating the fruits of their labour as well as learning to make and flip pancakes excellently.

Well thats about it for this month watch this space as next month should see some significant changes in the project as we strive to improve our work for the young people of Downham Market.

Ben Hyde

New year, new challenges!

2010-01-26T15:03:00.003Z

Well here we are in 2010! So far we have been pretty busy this year. This year should see some substantial growth for the project, as we look to further develop the work and scope of the project. This will take quite a lot of work and energy but will be well worth it if we can help support more young people in Downham Market.

We have talked before about the projects aim to increase the staffing so there are 3 full time posts. Well we have been busy applying for funding from various sources to aid that development. We would love to be able to offer more opportunities to the young people including after school clubs and mentoring opportunities, but this requires more time from our team than we are able to give currently.

We are still waiting to hear whether the project will be able to use the ATC building but watch this space. We are also currently looking into sources of funding for covering the running costs and refurbishment of the building should we be successful.

We have also been looking at supporting the development of a young parents project, that will offer support, advice and a space for social interaction for young parents based locally. We have applied for some funding to cover the start up costs of the project including play equipment for the children, and covering basic expenses for the lead worker. However we would really like to able to make the role a salaried part time position and so are looking opportunities for that.

As you can see there is alot going on at the moment in terms of trying to help the project to grow. We have also been investigating possibilities of accrediting the work of our younger volunteers to help them build their qualifications and job prospects. It might be that we can offer them in house training that will help them gain a recognised qualification.

With all of this going on we would really appreciate your prayers and support as we seek to move the project forward.

Thanks

DYP team.

Nearly Christmas

2009-12-17T14:17:00.002Z

This month seems to have flown by. The projects continues to evolve and we have been having some positive meetings about moving it forward. We have also had some fun with the young people including our TNP Christmas party and a trip to the cinema.

TNP Christmas Party
The party was excellent with lots of good food and fun. We had a chocolate fountain which unsurprisingly went down very well with the young people. We also have various bits of party food, fresch from the oven during the session. We also had some hand made mince pies which the young people made under Nicky's supervision during the party. The young people and leaders enjoyed having a go at karaoke, and other games. We also had some help producing the DYP Newsletter. All in all a great end to the term.

A Christmas Carol
On Monday the 14th we went to Norwich with 6 young people to see the new Disney version of A Christmas Carol in 3D. The films stars Jim Carrey and was great for getting into the Christmas spirit. One of the young people told us they had never been to Norwich before and all were encouraging us to do some similar again in the future.

DYP Newsletter
The new termly Newsletter will out shortly and downloadable from our website, we will also send out copies in pdf format to those on our mailing list. If you would like to be added to out mailings then please email the project (dypm@downhamyouthproject.co.uk). The newsletter includes an interview with Ben our new manager, an interview with one of our apprentice youth workers and a cut out prayer card to stick on the fridge.

Well I think that rounds up the main things for this month, watch this space for more updates.

DYP November highlights

2009-11-26T09:41:00.004Z

Highlights from the month for the project include:

Sports night at the Sovereign Centre
Youthwork the Conference
Community Safety Fund
Downham Methodist Christmas Fair

Sports night
On the 17th we had a sports competition night held at the Sovereign centre, for the Tuesday Night Project. This was not the best attended but for the young people who did come they really enjoyed it. We played a few different games where the young people competed to win some chocolates. We ended the night with a young people versus leaders game of basketball and the leaders lost in a big way.

Youthwork the Conference
On the 20th five members from the team went to Eastbourne for a weekend conference. It was an excellent weekend with some great speakers and some interesting resources. It was also a great opportunity for the team to get to know each other better.

Community Safety Fund
Earlier in the month we had confirmation that we were successful in being awarded £500 towards the costs of the Tuesday Night Project. We would like to thank the Community Safety Fund for their support of the project.

Christmas Fair
This Saturday Downham Methodist Church will be holding their annual Christmas Fair with Father Christmas and lots of activities for children. There will also be various stalls including a cake stall (I hope). This year the DYP are running a Wii competition stall at the Fair and will be promoting its work in the community. If you see this in time come along and support us.

Please do pray for the development of our work, especially for wisdom about the direction the project takes in the future and for the right funding opportunites to open up to support that development.

Mini Moto racing and other fun

2009-10-30T10:16:00.023Z

This last month has been really good for the project. We are getting to know each other better and working better as a team. The council have been really supportive and we are working towards getting a building for the project to work from. We have visited one with some local councilors and hopefully we will be able to use it from early in the new year.

Mini Moto Race day

Just this last week we have had the Mini Moto end of season race day. We have had three of our young people attending the Mini Moto project throughout the year and all of them took part and won races in the race day. One of our young people even won the league for the group they were in. It was a brilliant day and a real showcase for the achievements of the young people involved.

We are continuing to think through where we would like the project to go in the future and trying to find the finance to make it happen. One example is the Mini Moto project which will start up again next year in March. We would like to be able to run the project again but open it up so more young people can get involved. We would also like to do two club nights a week so we can make them more age specific (eg 11 - 15 and 14 - 18). We are also still building towards having a young parent support project. However all of these require time and energy to find the right funding opportunities. So please pray for guidance as we seek to move forwards.

Young Volunteers with Nicky

Earlier this month we completed the second session of training for young people wanting to volunteer with the project. We have now had 7 young people go through the basic training and it is great to see so many wanting to help and be involved in supporting others.

We also had a stall at the community fare on the 17th of this month. One of the young peoples parents made us loads of cakes, which we gave away for donations for the project. The stall was run by the team and some of the newly trained young volunteers. We had pictures up and information leaflets about the project available for people to look at. It was a good day and hopefully more people in the town are aware that we exist. We raised over £45 from the day and the follow on sale at church the following day. Thanks to all those who helped out and supported us.

If you would like to see more about what we do then check out our website www.downhamyouthproject.co.uk.

Thanks.

Ben

First Post!!!

2009-09-30T14:16:00.002+01:00

Hi all, I am Ben the new Downham Youth Project (DYP) manager. I have now been here for nearly a month and am starting to feel more at home.

The DYP project has been going for over 2 years and started out life as a detached project pilot which was funded by Downham Market council. The pilot was seen as very successful and a 3 year project was begun. We are now just in the 3rd year of the 3 year project.

During that time the main focus of the work has been on detached (street) based work with young people to build positive relationships with them and offer support and informal education. This is still how the project works now but it has branched out into other areas as well.

Last January DYP started a weekly youth club night which has been held on Tuesday evenings for 11-18 years old's from the area. This has been a good learning opportunity for the team and the young people and we are hoping to be able to open two nights a week in a dedicated building from early in the new year.

We also work in Downham Market High School one lunchtime a week, meeting up with young people and talking about what we do.

As well as these we have had a couple of specialist projects that we have been running, a Graffiti wall and a mini moto project. These have been going well and have added to the areas that young people can positively get involved locally.

We are currently looking into starting some work with young/teen parents in the area to offer them some specific support.

Our main areas of need at the moment as a project are for focus as we seek to move forward, working with the council to explore building opportunities and building a better core finance base (for increasing staffing, building costs, travel, stationary, etc) to work from. Most of our finances are tied up in very specific ways so we don't have the flexibility to cover any unexpected costs or develop projects easily.

I think that is probably more than enough to give a taster for now. I will try to blog on here myself monthly to give updates on what we are doing and you may see blogs from other members of the team appearing too.