Youth Services

Young People with special needs who attend the Youthy’s VIBE youth club are celebrating after receiving additional funding from Children in Need to run the youth club 2 nights a week.

VIBE (Versatile, Brilliant, Imaginative, Environment) is a youth club for young people with special needs. The young people come to VIBE to make new friends, socialise, take part in a wide variety of activities including cooking, arts and crafts, climbing wall, pool, table tennis, dancing, discos, talent shows and hair and beauty.

Mrs Grantham who attends VIBE said

“my eldest child has gained confidence and has learnt how to do the climbing wall”

VIBE is open to young people with special needs aged between 7 and 18 years who live within, Thornaby, Stockton, Stillington, Billingham, Ingleby Barwick, Norton, Eaglescliffe and Yarm.

After 3 years of funding from Children in Need for 1 session a week, young people were eager for a second evening. Five Lamps successfully applied for additional funding from Children in Need and now run VIBE 2 evenings a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) from their purpose built youth facility, the Youthy.

Miss Lawson who attends VIBE with her children said

“Friday night at The Youthy is what my two children enjoy very much; they can’t wait for Fridays now…Best thing ever! They’ve met new friends, socialise more”

Young people who have attended VIBE for the past 3 years have shown increased self-confidence, developed more independence, improved their social skills, increased their fitness levels, learnt a variety of new skills and most importantly have made great friendships and had fantastic fun.

One of the parents who attends VIBE, Mrs Anderson said

“my daughter has developed some independence and made some friends and my little boy has become more sociable. It’s nice to come and watch them being themselves”

Five Lamps’ qualified Youth Workers support the young people to develop their social skills and promote increased independence. They have worked with the young people in deciding projects and activities that they would like to do, which has encouraged ownership and made them feel valued and respected.

A Support Worker said:

“As a Support Worker I have noticed a massive difference in the confidence of the young girl I bring. She has excelled and has started interacting with other children and has gained more independence”

The activities run at the Youthy have also supported the development of independent living skills such as cooking, personal grooming and food hygiene. All participation is voluntary and the young people are able to take part at a level of their choosing.

Five Lamps have developed a safe, supportive and friendly environment where the young people feel comfortable and able to relax enabling them to be more confident in taking part in activities, making new friends and discussing issues which are important to them.

Mrs Heads, a parent who attends VIBE said

“My kids really look forward to Friday nights. It gives them a lot of independence and it gives me a bit of peace! I don’t see them from coming in to going home – as they are very comfortable in their surroundings”

For more information about VIBE contact the Youthy on (01642) 628195.

The allotment project has proved to be a great success with young people from Five Lamps’ Youthy.

With support and advice from Thornaby Allotment Association and the local allotment owners, the young people have done some wonderful work and completely transformed the allotment. They have worked extremely hard with the upkeep of the allotment, painting fences and sheds. There are also three compost bins in place and being used.

The allotment project has been enormously successful in making it accessible for all young people, including our special needs group who attend Five Lamps’ Youthy on a Friday night. Raised flower beds have been built to enable all young people to more easily plant seeds and care for them. A great deal of construction work was carried out, with paving laid all around the flower beds to enable a sturdy environment for the young people to stand on when at the allotment and to make sure any young people who use wheelchairs, would be able to have full access.

Thornaby Allotment Association has been of great support by offering advice and giving free fertiliser. They have recognised that young people can have a really positive impact and have taken the work that they have been doing seriously, showing a great change in attitude.

Kevin Nottingham from Thornaby Allotment Association said

“It’s great to see young people at the allotment. They are all doing a great job. Thornaby Allotment Association will continue to provide help and support to the young people”

Unfortunately the young people did face some drawbacks in the winter due to the adverse weather condition. The 2 new poly tunnels which had been set up were damaged beyond repair and the vegetables which had been planted were lost. Local allotment holders have been extremely helpful and generous in helping us to replace the plants from their own excess and offering advice and guidance on how to best look after them.

The young people have decided that the next project is to plant fruit trees and flowers to be handed out to and used within the local community. The young people plan for the vegetables to be used within The Youthy for various cooking projects to further develop the skills of the young people.

Lauren, Peter and Jake who regularly help at the allotment said

“I had a fantastic time”, “it’s brilliant’ and “it’s fantastic”

The enthusiasm and hard work of all of the young people involved has been fantastic to see and they should be very proud of themselves.

Young people from Five Lamps’ Youthy have spent the past 8 months learning to knit.

The young people have been supported by Youthy staff, to knit blankets to donate to the neonatal unit for premature babies at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

The young people aged between 7 to 10 years are from the Youthy’s ‘Allstars’ Youth Club.

There were a lot of dropped stitches, extra stitches, wrapping wool the wrong way, dropping it all completely and having to start again, but the young people persevered, kept their humour and were absolutely brilliant.

The young people have worked extremely hard and they have knitted a total of 22 blankets consisting of 308 small squares, 22 centre pieces and crocheted edging. We are very proud of them.

Staff and volunteers at the Youthy have been a huge support, teaching the young people to knit, brushing up their own skills, taking knitting home to produce centre panels and correct mistakes, and have even roped in friends and family to make some squares too!

The blankets had to be very carefully made and put together to ensure there weren’t any tiny holes that the little babies could catch their fingers in.

The young people showed a lot of commitment and enthusiasm for the project and dedicated 2 nights a week solely to knitting their squares for the blankets.

The blankets were taken to the hospital on Wednesday 4 May 2011 and received with big thanks, huge smiles and the assurance that they would be well used.

Five Lamps have been running a very successful project at The Youthy for people aged 50+ who live within-in Stockton.

We have worked with over 20 adults in a variety of activities, with extremely positive feedback.

The first activity undertaken by the group was at Aerial Extreme a high ropes course in Bedale, which proved to be a fantastic day out. One of the ladies, who attended the session, was very nervous and unsure at putting her trust into the harness and the equipment to keep her safe at such a height. However with lots of encouragement and determination, she successfully completed the whole course and said

“I felt great afterwards”

The next activity took place at Castle Gate Quay for a session of Bell Boating. Everyone had really good fun and there were many laughs as we went round. A few aching arms followed the session, which just proves how good it is as a form of exercise!

A session on The Youthy’s climbing wall saw a lady with vertigo overcome her fear of heights and make it to the top of the wall which was amazing. One of the ladies was not going to take part in the climbing, initially coming along to support the others, however with a little persuasion and encouragement, she completed the climbs along with the others and really enjoyed herself.

She said

“Fab, fit and 50 is a great opportunity to try activities that are not usually available; you get support from others in the class and constant encouragement”

We acted upon suggestions for running a Zumba class in The Youthy, which after just 2 weeks has had 26 different people taking part, 16 of which were in the 50+ age group. The classes are enormous fun, energetic and you can’t help but smile and laugh your way through the whole session, which has left everyone feeling really good.

One of the people in attendance said

“It’s great; you are able to join in without feeling silly”.

Through this project we have noticed that new friendships that have been made. Some of the class are arranging to meet up away from The Youthy, which is great.

In the evaluations of the project, individuals have commented that they were made to feel very welcome, that they received constant encouragement and a positive attitude and they thanked our team for making it really enjoyable.

On Friday 3 December 2010, young people from Five Lamps’ youth services Foundation Learning Programme decided that it was time to show others that they do care

With all the news headlines telling us all we have to look after our neighbours, especially the elderly and that many could not leave their homes because of the snow, young people from the Youthy decided to take thing into their own hands.

Young people decided to help some of those elderly folk who lived within the facility of the Youthy on Thornaby Road in Thornaby. The idea was to use some of the money which had been donated to the Youthy by GrowHow UK and AMEC to buy some little essentials, go round some houses and bungalows and clear the snow from paths and deliver some goodie bags filled with a tin of soup, a loaf of bread, a pint of milk and some mince pies.

The idea was just to help and support them until they could get out and do a little bit of shopping.

Armed with snow shovels and goodie bags, the young people went and cleared the snow from the bungalows in Garden Close and Cedar Court in Thornaby and handed out the hampers, much to the delight and astonishment of the people living in the bungalows.

We have had a great response from the residents with a couple of thank you cards and notes saying how much it was appreciated and how lovely the young people were.

The young people have now decided that they would like to continue with helping the elderly right up till Christmas, so the plan is that we will be going out every Friday from now till Christmas to see if they want a helping hand with shopping or clearing paths.

Hard-hitting films have been produced by teams of youngsters who feel they have a message to get across.

The 35 teenagers, who attend Five Lamps ‘Youthy’, premiered their films at a special event at the Wynyard Rooms on 12 August 2010.

The films brought to life the issues of youth homelessness, unemployment and aspiration, lack of provision for young people, misrepresentation of young people, disability, and intergenerational difficulties.

The Youthy received funding for the equipment and expertise for the project. As well as giving the youngsters the chance to explore a topic and get a message across, it has also opened new opportunities to pursue careers and courses in the media or performing arts. Alex Ozols, Darren Iveson, Lauren Riddle and Kerry Parkinson all looked at the issue of homelessness.

Alex, 18, from Stockton, said:

“I could get thrown out of my house tomorrow but before doing this I wouldn’t have a clue what to do, but now I know where to go.”

Kerry, 17, from Thornaby, said:

“We worked with a girl who stayed in a hostel and we asked her what it was like and she said it was horrible and she’d rather stay on the streets than stay in a hostel.”

Alex added:

“Maybe the film can help people recognise it’s bad and needs sorting out.”

Darren, 18, from Thornaby, said:

“The film has made me feel more confident because I had to go up to people with a microphone and ask them questions. Before the project I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Lauren, 17, from Thornaby, said:

“Some us are now thinking of going to college to do media.”

Darren added:

“I’m interested in performing arts. I did a bit of acting and I’d never done it before. It was a new experience.”