Lancashire Youth Challenge ANNUAL REPORT 2023 Registered Charity: 1163469
CONTENTS
CHAIR’S REPORT Page 2 VISION, MISSION, VALUES & APPROACH[Page 3] THEORY OF CHANGE Page 4 RESTORE [COMMUNITY] Page 5
RESTORE [SCHOOLS] Page 7 TIME TO BREATHE Page 9 SUMMER EXPEDITION Page 11 STATISTICS & QUOTES Page 13
FUNDRAISING, DONATIONS & SPONSORSHIP Page 15 TRUSTEES Page 16 THANKS Page 17 ACCOUNTS Page 18
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INTRODUCTION
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Lancashire Youth Challenge 2023 Annual Report, as the new Chair of this wonderful, innovative, and impactful charity. 2023 has been another year of growth and success for the charity, as we have increased our turnover, grown our staff team and expanded our reach.
As you are aware George Harris has stepped down as Chair of Trustees as of August 2023; along with Julie Brown (Treasurer) and Rae Holden (Governance Lead).
I am delighted that both George and Julie will continue to support the charity as Associate Members and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all three of them for the wonderful contribution they have made over the years. Lancashire Youth Challenge (LYC) would not be the charity it is now without their support. The charity has recruited three new Trustees during the year: Stephen Thomas (Chair), Tom Drake (Vice Chair) and Alaric Best who bring significant expertise and experience from both the business and charitable sectors.
I also would like to thank Guy Christiansen and his superb team for their commitment and the support they have provided to all young people engaged in our various programmes.
I commend you to the ‘Impact Report 22-23’ which highlights all the achievements of the charity over the year and the progress made on our Theory of Change model. LYC have a clear delivery strategy encompassing our ‘Restore’, ‘Time to Breathe ‘and ‘Rise to the Challenge’ programmes.
We have during the year strengthened our financial governance by commissioning external accountancy support and implementing several new policies. The major challenge for the Board is to continue to strengthen the financial structure at LYC despite the strong cost of living headwind. Despite this we have managed to improve the financial resilience of LYC.
With the clear future strategy, I have every confidence that Lancashire Youth Challenge will continue to grow and support more young people across Lancashire in the coming years.
Stephen Thomas (Chair of Trustees)
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VISION, MISSION, VALUES & APPROACH
VISION
To be recognised as a regional leader in providing life enhancing and positive life changing experiences for young people.
MISSION
To nurture, support, and challenge young people to become more resilient and to achieve personal success.
VALUES
Recognising individual uniqueness and cultural identity whilst celebrating our collective, common humanity. Providing each young person with bespoke support to enable them to identify their place in the world and make positive and meaningful change in their lives and the wider community.
Unique
Embedding collaborative practices into the work of Lancashire Youth Challenge; to ensure high quality delivery of our purpose with young people, communities, and stakeholders.
Collaborative
Empowering young people to identify their personal goals, develop their confidence, self- efficacy and achieve their full potential.
Achieving
Equal and equitable provision defined to meet the needs of the young people we serve.
Equitable
APPROACH
Lancashire Youth Challenge believes in a strength and asset-based approach to our work with young people. We encourage the celebration of achievement, youth empowerment, collaborative working, and youth-led practices.
Our focus as a charity is to enable young people to overcome their personal obstacles, build resilience and to be celebrated and recognised for their achievements.
To this end, when discussing or promoting our work, we adopt asset-based language and focus on achievements and successes.
We ensure young people are intrinsically involved in shaping our strategic vision and informing our operational practices, in the following ways:
Co-designing projects and the annual delivery programme. Conduit for information sharing and programme evaluation.
Youth Advisory Sessions
Peer Mentoring Programme
Informing strategic development, policy, and practice.
Young Trustees & Young Associates
Project Evaluations
Creative conversations capturing feedback and review.
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THEORY OF CHANGE
DELIVERY OUTPUTS
RESTORE
Physical wellbeing workshops Emotional wellbeing workshops Creative art projects Outdoor challenge events
Time to Breathe
Life skills workshops Outdoor learning events Bushcraft Green exercises and workshops
Rise to the Challenge
Cycle challenges Residential challenges Summer expedition Mindful hill walking challenges
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
Safe & supportive spaces
Platforms to express, be heard and make comment on the world
High quality provision by experienced practitioners
Diverse participation opportunities
Understanding our common humanity and celebrating diversity
Encouraging young people to engage in their learning journey
Asset & strength-based approaches
INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES
Better able to manage their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing
Increased sense of self-esteem and confidence
Motivation and commitment to personal development
Care and compassion for themselves and others
Improved communication and social interactions skills
Personal resilience, responsibility, and maturity
LONG TERM OUTCOMES
Improvements in physical/ emotional/mental health and wellbeing
Significant increase in self belief and self efficacy
The confidence to ‘dare to dream’
Eagerness to explore other cultures and places
Competency and resilience to deal with life’s challenges
Making meaningful change in themselves and the world
Personal aspiration to craft the life they wish to lead
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RESTORE [COMMUNITY]
Thanks to financial support from StreetGames and the Ministry of Justice we facilitated a three-month pilot of the RESTORE/DIVERT programme with young people in Morecambe, through our partnership with Stanleys Community Centre. The programme consisted of weekly fitness and self-defence workshops, emotional wellbeing and mental health awareness workshops and culminated in a wellbeing residential at Ormside Mill, Cumbria. The programme was a great success with the following, significant outcomes:
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80% demonstrated an enhanced ability to manage their emotions and behaviours.
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70% demonstrated an increase in their confidence and ability to interact socially with others.
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80% demonstrated feelings of achievement and personal success by completing mini goals.
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75% demonstrated an increased ability and confidence in expressing their thoughts, ideas, and feelings in a mature manner.
Building on our experience and expertise at supporting resettled refugees, we delivered a three month RESTORE programme with twelve Ukrainian young people in Preston. The young people engaged in a range of personal development activities and produced a powerful and moving film, which you can watch here.
Thanks to ongoing support from our colleagues at Active Lancashire, we are now a licensed provider of the Empire Fighting Chance (EFC) programme. EFC is a non-contact boxing and psychology informed mentoring practice, that we are now attaching to our RESTORE programme. In November, we launched our first RESTORE programme – inclusive of EFC practice - at Lancaster’s BayFit gym and we will be delivering a programme with the Foxton Centre in Preston in 2024.
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RESTORE [SCHOOLS]
Since April 2023, we have been delivering a series of ten-week RESTORE programmes with Year 8 & 9 students at Bay Leadership Academy in Morecambe.
Our first programme (April-June) explored themes of identity, confidence building, and personal aspirations. Watch the highlights film here.
Between September and November, the students explored themes of personal responsibility, teamwork, and communication by competing an epic road-based cycle challenge, starting from their school in Morecambe and finishing at Blackpool Tower! Watch the highlights film here.
We are excited to launch a new RESTORE programme with primary schools in the Lancaster District, focused on empowering Year 6 pupils to develop the personal resilience required to transition to secondary school. In November, we launched the first of three programmes with our colleagues at Ryelands Primary School, Lancaster.
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4J "ay
TIME TO BREATHE
We have continued to deliver our Time to Breathe programme every Monday evening and during school holidays and at weekends. Thanks to support from Gathering Fields Retreat & Apothecary, we have accessed sessions about planting, growing, and harvesting, plus bushcraft and survival skills workshops. In late summer, the young people also spent an evening wild camping – which many of them have identified as a highlight of their experience.
Working with the Mandala Yoga & Wellbeing Centre, our young people have engaged in sound bathing, yoga, positive mindfulness, and yogic drumming workshops all hosted in the serenity and beauty of the Forest of Bowland countryside.
By working with the team at SafeNet, our team have attended a host of life skills workshops, exploring anger management and conflict resolution, online safety, healthy relationship advice and sexual health education. Given the impact and success of this programme, we are eager to deliver the Time to Breathe programme with youth and community partners across Lancashire.
“Time to Breathe has given me the opportunity to work with young people I wouldn’t normally work with, learn valuable well-being and life skills such as first aid, mindfulness, and coping strategies for helping myself and others with their mental well-being.” 9
RISE TO THE CHALLENGE [SUMMER EXPEDITION]
During August, we encouraged our team of young people to reconnect, reflect and realign with the natural world, through a weeklong creative and community impact expedition in Cumbria.
The team visited a local 750-acre managed woodland and learned about responsible land management while crafting their own bespoke canoe paddles from freshly felled Ash trees. They then assisted volunteers from the National Trust to build biodegradable tree enclosures for new saplings and engaged in educational workshops about the flora and fauna of Cumbria and the Lake District.
This element of the challenge allowed for discussion and reflection about our collective responsibility to care for the natural world, especially during this time of unparalleled climate change. Watch the expedition documentary film here.
“I really struggled with new people when I started. I’d recently dropped out of school and LYC gave me something to do during the days and a focus towards the big challenge. I felt really under confident when I first started, but I continued with it and I’ve now met loads of people. I feel a lot more confident now and I’ve learnt how important it is to connect with peers.”
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••4 IJ 12
STATISTICS & QUOTES
Between January and November 2023:
young people engaged in weekly activity 158 workshops and sessions delivered 378 participation opportunities provided 2178
“My son has been through a very transitional year, which could have been a far less positive experience had it not been for Lancashire Youth Challenge. We have had my son in numerous programmes and schemes designed to help and support young adults with learning difficulties, and none have been successful in the way that LYC has. He has either been unable to cope academically or practically or emotionally in these environments, but at LYC he has flourished, and his confidence has grown immeasurably, enabling him to cope with difficulties in his own life. I can’t say enough positive things about Lancashire Youth Challenge and their team of amazing staff. I honestly don’t know where my son would be at this point without them.”
– Parent
“My ability to approach challenges has changed since I started LYC. I didn’t do much before and I couldn’t be mentally bothered to do stuff, but with this ace team I’ve been able to push myself in ways I never thought. Having these opportunities has helped me not to be afraid of challenges and shown me that I am able to persevere in difficult situations.”
- Participant
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STATISTICS & QUOTES
% of participants stated that the programme had increased their understanding of emotional wellbeing and felt better equipped to understand and manage their emotions by 100 an average of 33%
% 81
of young people agreed that the programme had helped them to develop their self-efficacy and enabled them to feel better able to communicate their thoughts and needs
% 100
of young people felt more confident and had a heighted sense of self-esteem after completing a programme at LYC; stating that on average their confidence had increased by 46%
% 88
of young people commented on how the programme had supported their physical development, increasing their physical strength and fitness by an average of 36%
% of young people felt an increased sense of personal and social responsibility and commented on how they felt 94 more mature thanks to engaging in the programme
% of young people stated that they had learned more about themselves and the wider world thanks to participating 100 on our programme
“I cannot thank Lancashire Youth Challenge enough for all the opportunities they have given my son. From the peer support, activities, challenges and the residentials to the one-to-one support from the team to help build up his confidence and to help him believe in himself. Thank you again for everything!”
- Parent
“Being involved in the programme at LYC has impacted my life. For example, I never used to put my hand up in class before, I always felt too shy. Since I’ve pushed myself to do things, like abseiling (which I was terrified of!), It’s made me think - If I can do that, I can do this. Challenges come in many forms and now when I’m faced with one, I think okay I’ll give it a go, as before I might not have tried it at all.”
– Participant
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FUNDRAISING, DONATIONS & SPONSORSHIP
For a second year running, Sam, Guy, Josh, Bill, and Alaric completed an epic cycle challenge, traversing England via the Way of the Roses (Morecambe to Bridlington), raising a respectable £1,427 for our charity.
We were thrilled to receive a generous donation of £500 from Caddick Construction towards our core programme.
We would like to thank our Silver Sponsors for their monthly commitments and our Gold Sponsor, Stoneswood Homes for their generous and continued support.
To discover more about our Sponsorship programme or to register as a Sponsor please visit our website here.
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TRUSTEES
This year has been one of significant change for our Board of Trustees, as several of our long-standing Trustees stepped down, in line with LYC’s constitution, having completed two full terms of three years. In August, we offered our sincerest thanks to Rae Holden and Julie Brown who had both worked tirelessly as Governance Lead and Treasurer respectively, and to our phenomenal Chair, George Harris who played a significant role at LYC since our inception in 2015.
In December 2022, Sam Harding stepped down as Trustee to take up post as a freelance wellbeing practitioner and we recruited Tom Drake, Stephen Thomas and Alaric Best to the Board. We are thrilled to welcome Stephen as our new Chair and Tom as Vice Chair.
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THANKS
We would like to say a huge thanks to the youth workers, fitness and sports practitioners, wellbeing experts, creative practitioners, volunteers, trustees, and partners who supported the delivery of our 2023 programme.
We would also like to express our gratitude and thanks to our wonderful funders and donors who make our work possible:
The National Lottery Community Fund Francis Scott Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Areti Charitable Foundation Banks Lyon Memorial Trust Westminster Foundation via Lancaster District CVS Opening School Facilities Fund (Deptartment for Education) Lancashire County Council (Education Improvement) & (Homes for Ukraine) Preston City Council Active Lancashire Sport England Walney Extension Community Fund Forrester Family Trust Stoneswood Homes
Lancaster Health Champions Fund via Lancaster District CVS
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LANCASHIRE YOUTH CHALLENGE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023
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Approval of Financial Information We hereby approve the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 and acknowledge our responsibility for them, particularly for the appropri3tene55 of the accountin8 basis and for providinB all information and explanations necessary to the accounts for their compilation. The Management Committee.. George Harrls (Chairl Brown (Treasurer) Guy Christiansen ISec¥etarvl Trustees: James Henry Wooldridge (resigned May 20221 Samantha Emma Harding (resigned December 20221 Rachael Holden Donna Coleman Phil Longbottom Victoria Louise Fletcher Joshua Lightbown Amanda Obiajulu Nwadukwe Thomas Drake lappointed December 20221 Kenneth Alaric Best (appointed December 20221 Stephen Thomas (appointed December 20221 Date = 11212023
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Lanca5hireYouth ChallwBe B3LJKeSheet loitheyÈartThJed31 March 2023 2D23 2022 xedAssets Tanwble a55ets 322.96 379.95 0jrrent1sts National WeslrninislerAccounl CAI BankAccounl shAccount 72,946.91 164.69 55,374.f 1,382.42 73,111.60 56,757.02 Current tiabilities effed IoMe Accruals PAYE Netcurrentets 45,769. .350.tk) -1,034.83 -39,057. -350. -1,116.85 47,153.83 40523.85 25,957.77 16233.17 Netojrrent Free reserves 26,281 16,613 nanced ., Cawtsl%£ounts Balance as al l April 2022 Capital acwjnts Balance as311 Apii12Q21 5uWu51orihe Ye31 16,613.Q7 9,667.64 26,281 14,161.93 2,451.14 16,613 22
Independent exarniner's report to th8 tru5ts8s of Accounting Pollcles Lancashire Youth Challenge Chartty No. 1163469 Ba$ of a¢tountln8 The final statementsof the charity have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with appIlble United Kin8dorn accountin8 standards, the Statement of Recommendeij Prartice"Accountin8 and Reporting by Charities" 155ued in March 2005 ISORP 25) and the CompanlesArt 20(b. and In accordance wlth the Flnanclal Reportlng Standard applicable in the UK Icharities SORPIFRS 10211. I rèport on the accounts forihe year 181 April 2022- 31 Marth 2023 Respective responsibilities of trustees and examinèr The ¢harty's Irusiees are responsible lor the prepar8lion of Ihe 8ccnts. Th& chènty's Iru8tee8 consider that an audit 15 not required forlhis year under 5ecbon 144Ql oftheCharibe5 knt2011 1th6 2011 Acti and thai an Indèpéndént tX8minatson 1$ n&wJ8d. ImtominK Resourtes Grants Re¢dvable Grants, including grantsforthe purchase of fixed assets are recognised in full in the Statement of Financial Activities in the period in which they are recewable. exTrptfor those grants Y4hich are foi a future 5PEcific period, in which (aSE the releVat amount is deferred io that perlod. exsmine the accounts under secth?n 145 of the 2011 Act., tofollow the proc8dur&s laid down In th8 general Oireciicrts given bylhe Charity Commis$ion under section 14515ilbl of the 2011 Act, and 10 $18ie wther parbcular matter$ have tome 10 my attent Basls of independent examSnerfs ptsrt Other Income Other Income Is recognised In full Sn the Statementof Flnancial Acti1$ In theyear In which My examinabon was carried out In accordan with the general DIrec1n$ given by kne Chsnty Comrni$sion An examination Indude5 3 review of the 3GGounting Tecords kept by Ihe Charity and 8 Comparis ol Iht accounts preseni8d with those records.11 also includes consideration of aw unusual rtems or disclosures In th a¢¢ounts, and seking expianaiions from you a8 trust888 ¢on¢eming 3ny $u¢h rMatter5. The procedures undertaken do notprovide all kneevklenGe Ihal would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given a5 to whelhprlhe accounls prtseni a Itu8 and lair view. ar Iht r8port 1$ limited ltr those Mar$ sat out stai8mant ts&1. Resourtesexpended Expenditure is recognised on an accrual bas[$ 3$ a153billty when Ir Is Incurred. Expenditure includes any relevant VAT. Allocatlon of Costs All costs are 8llo¢ated WeeTh the expenditure ¢8tegorles of the SOFA on a basis designed to refle the use of the resource. Some costs relatin8 to a particular activity are allocated directly. others ère èpportioned on an appropri&e basts. Independent examlnef$ statement Employee benefits The costs of employee bEnefits are recogni5ed a5a liability and afi expense. Termination benefit$ are re¢ognised immediately 8$ an e¥pense when the charity is demon#rably commirted to provide rerminaiion benefits. In ¢onne¢bon with my examinabon, no matterhas wmèto my aitsniion. 111 which gives me ieasonable cause to belEve thai InyMaterlaI respect tae requirements Opèrating Leases Renta15 applicable to operating leases where substantially all the TherrtS and risks of owrbership remain with the lessor are charged to the SOFA in the year in which they accrue. lo keep accounting reGords in accordartce with sectiDn 120 of Ihe 2011 Ad". and to prepare 8¢¢ounts which accord with the accounlirvJ recor05 d¢OnY with lh& aCnting requirements of thè 2011 Act have not been mel, or Fund Accountlnz Unrestritted funds ¢omprlse those fundswhlch theTrustees are free to use In accordance with ch3ri13ble objects. Restricted fund5 are funds which have been¥iven for particular purpose5 and project5. 12110 which, in my ryinion, attèntson should dra¥fft in OFderto enablé a proper underst3nding of the ac15 to be reached DeplatIon oftanOWe flxeil assets Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets at a rate calculated to write off the full C05tof the a55et over it5e5tirnated useful lrfe. Equipment. fixtures and fittings 15% reducing balance. Compur equipment Is fully wrltten off ID the year of purchase. Sttweia Pankhadwala Clo Lan¢asir Di$kn¢i cvs. Th¥Cornsi$ton¥ Sulytrd Slrspl Lnc19r LAI 1PX 16th NOvèmmr 2023 23
A DYNAMIC CHARITY THAT PRODUCES LIFE ENHANCING AND AT TIMES LIFE CHANGING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
Cornerstone Building, Sulyard Street, Lancaster, LA1 1PX Office 01524 956046 / Participation Phone 07885974782 lancashireyouthchallenge.co.uk
@LancashireYouth LancashireYouthChallenge
Registered Charity: 1163469
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