Berkshire Association of Clubs for Young People – awarded £26,000 in the autumn reactive grant round through joint Trust and LSP funding

BACYP, working in partnership with the Download Youth Network and West Berkshire Youth Service, were awarded £26,000 to provide a youth officer post to support youth clubs with planning and leadership training and to continue to develop the Download website – contributed by and for young people.

BACYP chief executive David Seward said: “There are around 40 clubs in West Berkshire and they are all small voluntary organisations. We will provide designated support to make sure they don’t close. It’s making sure there is a support network and that they have a physical presence – a person directly employed by BACYP to run the club while the leader is off sick, on holiday or has to leave,” added Mr Seward.

He said that the clubs were essential, particularly in rural areas where rural transport was a “nightmare” to give young people a sense of independence and also responsibility to help plan and run the clubs themselves.

Rural clubs, like Great Shefford, Beenham, Beedon and Peasemore and Kintbury will be targeted first.

The Berkshire Association of Clubs for Young People (BACYP) has recently celebrated its 60th Anniversary and was formerly known as Berkshire Boys Clubs. Our aim is to further the development and education of young people through leisure time activities so that their conditions of life may be improved.

To achieve this we support over 100 voluntary and statutory youth clubs and projects across the county. We provide information and guidance to these clubs and regularly deliver sports and activity sessions during the holidays for young people to take part in, especially in the more rurally isolated areas.

BACYP also holds the contract for the Vinvolved scheme which is the new national framework for youth volunteering.

As a development manager for the Vinvolved team my role is to create exiting volunteering opportunities for young people aged 16-25 years of age in the West Berkshire and Reading area.

To do this, I work with a large number of organisations who are willing to take on young volunteers and work with them to make the opportunities as fulfilling and safe for young people as possible.

We also champion for a positive image of young people and ensure that the public know of the great work that young people are doing for their community

For more information about BACYP please contact Nick Wooldridge Youth Volunteering Development Manager - Reading and West Berkshire Berkshire Association of Clubs for Young People 01635 500858 07917351444 (mobile) nick.wooldridge@bacyp.co.uk www.bacyp.co.uk