Ashford Youth Club

This report covers October to December 2023 and is the 10th report on the work undertaken by Ashford Youth Club.

It is sent to all local councillors, SCC staff involved in the lease and the local community as well as social media.

Commentary

This quarter has seen the club build on its multiple youth work nights through the developing of delivery partnerships. These have included Spelthorne Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Active Surrey among others.

Next quarter we will want to develop these links further and expect to be delivering 5 nights of provision.

Concern over the mental health of our community looms large and this should be a concern for our future delivery.

Tied into this is the uncertainty of the current lease we have with Ashford Youth Club.

1. Youth work

1.1 The Youth club run 4 evenings a week for young people in the community.

– Monday nights for a young persons forum and physical activity evening ( years 7 to 13)

– Tuesday nights for 9 to 13 year olds ( year 5 to 8)

– Wednesday nights as a Creative Arts evening in partnership with Spelthorne Council in for years 7 to 11

– Thursday Nights for 13 to 18 year olds ( Year 9 to 13) including the Duke of Edinburgh Award

1.2 In this period it run 40 separate sessions over 4 evenings, A increase from last quarter and the most we have delivered across the last 3 years.

1.3 It reached 207 different young people in these age ranges across our community.

1.4 In total 777 attended sessions.

1.6 45.5% were from Ashford and 32% from Stanwell- For the older sessions the percentage was 45% and 42% respectively. This is explained by the greater mix of friendship groups at secondary school and that Ashford Youth Club sits on the border of the two towns.

1.7 Young people aged 10 to 18 attend the youth club with year 11/ 10 and 7 being the main year groups.

1.8 A young person steering group meets fortnightly on a Monday.

18 volunteers have supported youth work deliver in addition to 18 peer leaders including Royal Holloway University football team on Tuesdays.

1.9 We delivered a Peer Education weekend to train 26 young leaders in October

1.10 52 of our young people were involved in Community volunteering offering 253 hours back to the community including the rotary Christmas collections and Santa Fun Run.

1 Community

2.1 Amy , our apprentice, is developing well. She is providing mentoring, support and youth work sessions with a focus on mental health. To this end we have partnered with east to West, mindworks as well as establishing links with the Surrey mental health hubs.

2.2 We continue to run weekly support sessions for Ukranian refugees supporting Spelthorne borough Council staff. This has linked into local borough services.

2.3 We hosted the a Christmas celebration for Spelthorne based Ukranians as well as making them a focus of our HAF Christmas activities.

2.4 We had Barnados and Action for carers use the building to meet young people.

3 General

3.1 A community faith group hires the building at weekends.

3.2 We have invested in a Compliance and Building Manager to oversee the building to ensure we are on task around building expectations.

3.3 We hold the lease for the Staines Station Community Garden which focuses on growing food into the community. The young people will be showcasing their art in the waiting rooms.

3.4 We hold the lease on the Skills and Jobs Hub in Staines which provides support for residents looking for employment or training.

3.5 We are ‘Friends of Ashford Station’.

Next quarter

In the next quarter we are continuing our current provision and additionally want to secure funding for an ongoing creative Arts hub as well as a plan to support the mental health of our community.

Thank you to local borough and County councillors, Spelthorne Borough Council, Surrey County Council, McDonalds and most importantly our Community, our volunteers and young people.