2023-11-30-accounts - Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project

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Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project

www.trayeproject.org

TRAYE Annual Report 2023

presented at TRAYE Project AGM 22[nd] March 2024

Introduction

It is my privilege to be Chair of Trustees as we celebrate of yet another year, year 8 of Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement project supporting our local young people in these challenging times.

While there remain many challenges as a Charitable project, not only from funding bids becoming ever more competitive in a country so beset with the cost-of-living crisis, but also the stresses of the world are impacting so heavily on our young people, making our project, its programmes, sessions and events for young people ever more important to keep in place.

I’m very glad to say that previous fears of the pandemic returning do seem to be well behind us and our excellent youth sessions and holiday outings for our young people are once again in full swing and we look forward to a very active summer ahead. The well recognised higher anxiety levels amongst young people is inadequately addressed by formal service providers, through no fault of their own; the scare resources for public services simply don’t stretch far enough, and it’s no surprise that we get quite a few requests for TRAYE services to expand into new parishes, after all, what better way to respond to the needs of our young people than to be able to offer local youth activities where young people can meet their friends, make new friends and find fun and happiness in the activities and sessions we provide.

Today we are joined by representatives from other parishes interested in TRAYE project and our sessions and activities. We must be mindful however that any expansion into additional parishes carries with it the increased responsibility for more young people at a time of greater competition for fewer grants and a greater loading on our administration and management system.

I know that I speak for my fellow Trustees when I say how proud we all are of TRAYE project and our wonderful team of youth workers. I would like to thank all the TRAYE Trustees that have supported TRAYE project this past year: Thank you all for all you have brought to TRAYE project and kept the project going, now in its ninth year.

On behalf of the board, I thank our team of lovely Youth Workers, in particular Kerry McCabe our project manager, without whom I don’t know how we would manage. I also extend my thanks to all the Members of the wider Steering Committee and thanks too to the participating Town and Parish Councils who support us in a myriad of different ways and all the sponsors who provide generous support and help keep our wheels turning and keep us going with the essential funding we need.

We look forward positively to the year ahead.

Jacqi

Cllr Jacqi Hodgson, Chair of TRAYE project Trustees

TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270 Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.

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TRAYE Annual Youth Work Report 2023:

Introduction:

TRAYE Project’s Mission and Vision:

‘ To provide youth work in an inclusive and connected way, reaching out to rural parishes and towns in South Devon and working with young people aged 8-19 years old, TRAYE is a powerful advocate for young people and helps them to have a strong voice in their communities. We promote health, wellbeing, kindness, compassion and respect at the heart of the work we do and together we encourage creativity, fun and new opportunities, thereby enabling young people to reach their full potential and create positive changes in their own lives and the world around them’.

This year has been a very demanding year for all of us at TRAYE. Our commitment to providing a rich and varied, educational and empowering programme of activities and sessions has remained our priority. The pressures associated with finding and accessing the funding opportunities needed to continue to provide our vital work has meant for the first time, we have spent more money than we pulled in. We are proud of the fact that as the youth support sector has seemed to face blow after blow and many other organisations reduced their offer or were forced to shut altogether, we instead have grown in scope and reach.

Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement (TRAYE) has been delivering community youth work and developing opportunities for young people in rural communities in South Hams and Teignbridge for the last 8 years. Our work uses various methods of engagement ranging from, open access youth clubs, project work, participation and ‘youth voice’ work, outreach ‘street-based’ work and 1:1 support for those identified as most vulnerable.

During 2023 we have engaged with 757 young people. We now deliver our work not only in the parishes and towns of Buckfastleigh, Staverton, Dartington, Totnes, Harbetonford and Marldon but have been invited to develop new projects in Holbeton, Yealmpton and Bridgetown. This shows not only the strength of our approach, but also the willingness of young people to engage in the work the TRAYE Project offers.

We are delighted to be delivering our expanded services and would like to thank all the respective parish and town councils for the continued support. These are exciting partnerships and TRAYE is a fine example of the strength of a local response to meet the needs of our young citizens.

This year, as always, the voices of young people have been central to shaping and directing our services so that they are appealing, full of opportunities for social education and accessible to as wide a cohort as possible. Once again, what we have delivered has been a thriving, warm, vibrant, and inclusive, a holistic package of support and delivery for young people living in rural South Devon. Unlike many ‘services’ seeking to ‘fix’ perceived issues or create prescribed ‘outcomes’ as a measure of ‘success’; Youth Work is founded on the principles of accompaniment and association, and it is those principles that generate the voluntary participation that gives our work such beauty and power.

“TRAYE sessions are fun, inspiring, educational and inclusive” (Parent/ Carer).

TRAYE Team:

Over the last 8 years, TRAYE has grown, and we have been fortunate to attract and keep some excellent members of staff that now make up at team with a wealth of experience and commitment to youth work practice. We now have 13 part time staff, as you will see in the table below. Between us all, we have over 60 years of experience of youth work delivery, creating opportunities for social education with young people within the communities where they live.

Name:	Position:	Qualifications:
1. Kerry McCabe	TRAYE Service Manager	BA Hons Degree in Youth and Community Work and has 24 years’ experience of leading and managing community-based Youth Work. Experience working with vulnerable families and substance misuse.
2. Laura Hamlyn	Senior Youth Worker	NVQ Level 3 Youth Work and has 6 years of experience working with young people. She has also taught Yoga and Mindfulness to young people for over 5 years.
3. Adele Marshall	Senior Youth Worker	Certificate of Education Has 5 years of experience working with a wide range of young people with different abilities at Plymouth City College.
4. Nathan McCabe	Funding Officer/ Lead Youth Worker	Ba Hons Degree in Youth and Community Work and has over 19 years’ experience leading and managing youth provision. Has worked for many years in the field of young people’s substance misuse and harm reduction.

5. Sophy Creed	Youth Forum Worker	Ba Hons in Fine Art., BSc in Physiology, NVQ Level 3 in Youth Work has 12 years’ experience working with young people in community settings and has a strong focus on art therapy for young people.
6. Christian Murison	Youth Support Worker	Level 2 in Children and Young People and has 7 years of experience working with young people in alternative education settings. Is very keen to bring his years of experience working within the field of sustainability and ecology into his work.
7. Jane Swanston	Youth Support Worker	Has over 10 years’ experience of working with children, young people and adults as a Health Visitor.
8. Lucy Homer	Youth Work Assistant	Has completed her Youth Work Traineeship and Youth Work level 2. Has volunteered in various Youth and Community Work settings for over 6 years.
9. Albie Taylor	Young Bank Youth Worker	Young person from Staverton who attended Staverton Youth Club and then went on to become a young volunteer in the sessions. Later trained to become a paid youth worker for TRAYE.
10. Kyra Marshall	Young Bank Youth Worker	Young person from Plymouth who started volunteering on our sessions and then became a paid youth worker.
11. Loui Prince Marno	Young Bank Youth Worker	Young person from Staverton who attended Staverton Youth Club and then went on to become a young volunteer. Later trained to become a youth worker for TRAYE.
12. Ty Taylor	Young Bank Youth Worker	Young person from Buckfastleigh who attended Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café, trained to become a youth worker and is currently a paid youth worker for TRAYE.
13. Alfie Donald	Young Bank Youth Worker	Young person from Buckfastleigh who attended Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café, trained to become a youth worker and is currently a paid youth worker for TRAYE.

Project Breakdown:

Dartington Youth Club: Age Range – 8 years +

Lead worker: Adele Marshall Youth Support: Christian Murison, Lucy Homer.

The Dartington Youth Club continues to run every two weeks on a Wednesday evening and is delivered from the Dartington Village Hall, which is a large space with good facilities. Attendance has grown and we now have 105 members in the group. The usual attendance is around 25 - 40 young people in each session. This is a well-established session and has been running for eight years now! We have had the privilege of seeing various cohorts of young people come and enjoy the session. Some young people have stayed on and become young volunteers which has been wonderful to see.

Sessions generally revolve around active games, cookery, arts and crafts always centered around conversation and activities /workshops with health and wellbeing as a focus, such as positive affirmation exercises, setting new and positive intentions, celebrating Diwali, candle making and mental health awareness to name but a few.

What young people and families from Dartington have told us:

“As adoptive parents, TRAYE has provided an essential community service to our family. The youth club has given our son a free, informal, un-pressured, yet supportive space to explore social engagement, increase his sense of connection and community, build confidence through successes, and have a whole lot of fun doing so!” (Parent/ Carer of a young person from Dartington).

“It’s fun and I get to meet up with my friends. Now I’m going to a different school, I don’t see them as much, so youth club has kept me in touch with them. Also, it’s relaxed here, and I don’t feel judged and I get to show off my gymnastics skills” (Young Person from Dartington).

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Staverton Youth Club: Age Range – 8 years +

Lead Worker: Laura Hamlyn Youth Support: Albie Taylor, later Loui Prince Marno later

Staverton Youth Club sessions take place on a Thursday evening and on a two-weekly basis, with sessions delivered in the Staverton Courtroom, Staverton Pavilion and Landscove Victory Hall. This enables us to reach more young people and offer a wider scope of activities and settings. Once again, the attendance at the session has grown throughout the year and this year’s figures show this area has 58 active members. Usual attendance is around 15 - 20 young people at each session.

The young people have enjoyed woodland walks, river paddling, picnics, non-contact boxing, health and wellbeing workshops and outdoor games. There has also been some good ‘stay safe’ work being done around internet safety, anti-bullying and keeping safe in the community.

This session is a warm and thriving session and the young people bring with them bundles of energy and creativity!

What young people and families from Staverton have told us:

“There’s always lots of nice food and I liked making necklaces and friendship bracelets. We had lots of fun making bath bombs too.” Young person

“My daughter loves Staverton Youth Club and is excited to go each time it’s on. Her younger brother couldn’t wait to turn 8 so he could go along too. He was nervous at first but soon forgot about it and really enjoys playing the ball games and Nerf guns with everyone.”

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Marldon Youth Club: Age Range – 8 years +

Lead Worker: Adele Marshall Youth Assistant: Kyra and Ty (later in the year Adele, Ty, Jane and Lucy ran the session)

The Marldon Youth Club runs every two weeks on a Friday evening at the Marldon Village Hall. This youth club is a large group and has 103 active members. We normally see around 25 – 35 young people at each session. It is a busy and thriving session and a real hub for the young people of the village to come to. There have been a wide range of positive activities for young people, with a focus on holistic health and wellbeing. Young people have enjoyed active games (outside when possible), table tennis, arts, crafts and jewelry making. Young people enjoy making healthy smoothies and shakes as an alternative to high sugar drinks available in shops. There has been some important antibullying work done and a real focus on mental health and emotional literacy.

Young people have also enjoyed some trips (outside of our usual programme) and helped to budget and plan for their trips to AMF Bowling in Torquay and their trip to The Smokey House for desserts and ice cream.

What young people and families have told us:

“Youth Club is invaluable in its support and provision of our young people of Marldon. It’s the only free provision left in the village and is incredibly popular and well attended. The quality of what TRAYE provide is absolutely incredible. The trips are fantastic and the way it is set up allows every child to be able to go, not just those from families who can afford it. Its equitable and resourceful and we are so fortunate to have it”. (Parent/ Carer from Marldon).

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Harbertonford Youth Project: Age Range – 8 years +

Lead Worker: Adele Marshall Youth Support: Laura Hamlyn, Lucy Homer

Harbertonford Youth Project runs every two weeks on a Thursday evening at Harbertonford Village Hall. Once again attendance at this session has grown and we now have 53 active members. We usually see between 15 – 30 young people accessing this session and it is a very vibrant and active group. Young people have been enjoying clay modelling and arts and crafts. We also rolled out our anti-bullying workshop sessions here and they were as successful (and needed) as at all our other sessions.

The young people have also loved singing, dancing, and crafting and playing ball games/team games outside when the weather permits. We have also done some wonderful work around teambuilding and leadership with young people taking part in tasks such as the spaghetti and marshmallow challenge. Young people also took an active role in crafting items for our TRAYE stall at Harbertonford Craft Fayre. Young people helped set up and run the stall in October 2023 and were part of a fundraising campaign to help keep our sessions free and inclusive.

What young people and families from Harbertonford have told us:

“Everything is great at youth club, there is nothing I would do to improve things, I learn new things each time and like to help others to learn too” (Young Person from Harbertonford).

“We often struggle to provide fun things for our boys to do, sometimes they get bored and argue with each other. On youth club nights, they are much more relaxed and cheerful. I would like to say thank you for the free trips you have given to us” (Parent/ Carer from Harbertonford).

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Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café:

Lead Worker: Laura Hamlyn Youth Support: Albie Taylor, later Loui Prince Marno

Age Range – 11 years +

Once again, this is a well-established session which grew out of street-based engagement with young people during lockdown and shows that the positive approach, central to youth work (the ‘capability model’) and an active Town Council, meant that it was a great reason to engage with young people. The session is now delivered from the Inspire Interventions HQ on Old Totnes Road and is given to us for free by the Inspire CEO’s who recognise the value of community youth work. This session has 146 active members with an average of 10 - 20 young people turning up to each session.

Young people have been cooking from scratch (and then some!) and have cooked bangers and mash, cheese scones, home-made pasta and garlic bread, various soups and regularly cook a national dish from a chosen country. This is always followed by some educational work around that culture. Young people always eat and share food together and the focus here is always wellbeing. We have also completed some excellent joined up work with DYS Space* in an outreach capacity to help safeguard young people from County Lines activity in the town. We have also worked closely with the Bungalow Youth Project to share information, skills and knowledge.

What young people and families from Buckfastleigh have told us:

“I enjoy the food; I love helping to cook and there are always things to do and friendly youth workers to have a laugh with as well” (J – Young person from Buckfastleigh).

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“My son loves coming to Buckfastleigh Youth Well-being Café, sometimes he doesn’t leave the house for days at a time, he has autism and finds social settings overwhelming. He comes back from every session very relaxed and talkative, I’m so grateful he has this, it’s a real lifeline and he gets to meet up with friends as well”. (Parent of Young Person from Buckfastleigh).

Youth Can Make a Difference Forum Age Range – 11 years +

Lead worker – Kerry McCabe Youth Support – Sophy Creed Youth Assistant – Lucy Homer

One of our most active and busy sessions, the Youth Can Make a Difference Forum has 103 active members in total. This youth voice development sits at the heart of TRAYE and is the central plank upon which we are able to gather the thoughts, concerns, wishes and feelings of young people in and around Totnes and support young people to consult with other young people right across all of our projects.

The success of this project is measured by the astonishing work the young people have done. Together with the TRAYE youth workers they have helped develop our Period Policy, Drug and Alcohol Policy, Equality and Diversity Policy and Knife Crime Policy. All of these are now working policies and are being implemented across TRAYE as a whole.

The young people have also helped us to write numerous funding bids and this year co-wrote the bid that successfully brought Totnes Town Council funds in that allowed us to ‘prime the pump’ and start the new Bridgetown Youth Club! They were also commissioned by The National Grid to become Young Fuel Poverty Leaders and have helped to disseminate important energy saving information in many creative ways (as often only young people can!).

We are very proud of these young people and their commitment to civic life and participation; they are a credit to their community. Many young people from this group have gone on to become Young Volunteers and are some of the most committed and passionate volunteers we at TRAYE have ever come across!

What young people and families have told us:

“I do more social stuff now and I feel like I have a voice and some control over how TRAYE is run. It’s fun and I’m getting lots of experience” (Z – young person from YCMAD)

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Totnes Youth Leisure Night (TYLN) Lead Worker – Laura Hamlyn Age Range – 11 years + Youth Support – Kerry McCabe, Loui Prince Marno and Ty Taylor

This session has now been running since February 2023 and has been an immediate success. Young people have been (and continue to be) keen to attend and get involved in the many activities and support on offer.

Young people can access swimming, use the gym, enjoy free healthy food and drink (including Laura’s legendary flapjack each week!) and also have access to our bespoke chill out space where they can talk to the youth workers and get any support they need.

We also provide regular group activities and have offered Non-Contact Boxing, Dance, Parkour, Basketball, Football and Laser Tag. So far, we have 129 young people signed up to this project who access on a regular basis. Each session usually sees around 40 – 50 young people in attendance. This is another example of developing positive partnerships with local organisations to create the services that young people want and need. Our close work with Totnes Leisure Centre on this project has been a wonderful example of good partnership work in a youth work setting.

As part of this project, we have also delivered Sports Outreach in all TRAYE Sessions where trained sports coaches have come along to our parish-based sessions to deliver non-contact boxing and parkour sessions to young people in some of the most isolated areas of South Devon.

What young people and families have said about this project:

“The youth leisure night is my favourite youth club of all time, it’s just so fun and I can go swimming and to the gym. There should be more youth clubs like this, you should see the energy, there’s just loads of positive energy, and I think it’s really good. Things like this should be in every area. A chance to have fun, free food and also get fit.” (Young Person from TYLN)

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Holbeton Youth Club

Lead Worker – Adele Marshall Youth Support – Kerry McCabe, Jane Swanston

Age Range – 8 years +

Holbeton Youth Club opened its doors in October 2023. A result of consultation and partnership with the TRAYE Board of Trustees and the Holbeton Parish Council this new and exciting addition to the village was born. We are delighted at the positive way this group has started and it has been wonderful to have solid support from the Parish Council who are keen to provide a service for young people in Holbeton.

New starts are always challenging, and this session is no exception. The young people are full of energy, and many have additional needs, and it will be a big task for us as a team to set the positive norms for the group and to develop the space into somewhere young people can associate and have fun, as well as find professional workers that they can make useful relationships with to get support when needed. This is not something that is new to us and we are entirely confident in our ability to establish this space.

Initial data shows we already have 40 young people signed up and regularly see between 20 – 30 young people each time. At this session, we are very privileged to have 6 wonderful local adult volunteers. These people play a huge part in helping this very busy session to feel safe and engaging for young people and we would like to thank these volunteers for their hard work and dedication.

The Holbeton Youth Club session consists of free food and drink, indoor games and educational activities. We are working hard with young people to come up with a group agreement that helps everyone to respect each other, the village hall and their community. This is an ongoing process and will develop further as the session becomes more established.

What young people and families from Holbeton have told us:

“The youth club has been a great asset for the village and the extra trips and activities to Plymouth have been good. We have limited activity for older young people in Holbeton, so the youth club is very valuable. The ethos of being kind and considerate is useful for the attendees. It’s well run and I’m glad to support it” (T - Parent/ Carer and Volunteer).

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Yealmpton Youth Club Age Range – 8 years +

Lead Worker – Adele Marshall Youth Support – Kerry McCabe, Jane Swanston.

This session also started in October 2023 and is another wonderful partnership between TRAYE and Yealmpton Parish Council. The sessions take place every other Monday at the Athletics Club who have welcomed us in and let us use the pool table and other resources. Once again, this session is about new beginnings and the team are working hard to establish positive norms with the young people, without being confrontational or punitive in any way. This can take a while to become established but is always effective in the long run, in creating a safe, educational, warm and engaging space that is both wanted and needed by the young people.

We already have 48 young people signed up to this youth club and on average see around 20 -30 young people at each session. Sessions consist of arts, crafts, free food and drink (lots of toasties and hot chocolates), pool and educational activities around anti bullying and healthy relationships. We look forward to developing this session further in 2024 and are delighted to have it as part of the TRAYE Programme.

What the young people and families from Yealmpton have told us:

“I think it’s really important for young people to have somewhere they can hang out with their peers, without parents around. But as a parent I want my young people to be safe. Youth Club bridges this gap perfectly. It’s allowed my children to meet and make friends with other local children. We home educate, so this is hugely important to us” (Parent/ Carer from Yealmpton)

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Bridgetown Youth Club Lead Worker – Laura Hamlyn Age Range – 11 years + Youth Support – Christian Murison

This is another session that began in October 2023, once again as a result of consultation and participation from the young people of Totnes (through the YCMAD Forum who co-wrote the bid) and Totnes Town Council who gave us funding to start this wonderful session.

This youth club has been an immediate success and young people have been involved in many positive activities such as DJ and music workshops, healthy cooking from scratch, arts and crafts and jewellery making. Young people have also been able to get support and there have been regular conversations around positive mental health, emotional wellbeing and gender and identity issues.

Our challenge here will be finding ongoing funding to keep this vibrant session running as well as widening our reach within the Bridgetown and Berry Pomeroy community. We have 17 Young people signed up and regularly see around 10 – 14 young people turning up at each session. The session has a wonderful atmosphere and young people say they feel ‘safe and welcomed’ here.

What young people and families from Bridgetown have told us:

“It’s good to have a safe space to come where we can be ourselves and don’t get discriminated against. I enjoy coming to the session and feel I can be myself” (G – Young person from Bridgetown).

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Session Themes:

Through regular Needs Assessments with young people, Team and Lead Workers Meetings, the TRAYE Youth Workers continue to plan and co-ordinate the delivery of the TRAYE Programme alongside our wonderful Young Volunteers and Young Bank Youth Workers. This has meant that we now have a common socially educative thread running across all of our sessions and that at every point in the calendar there is a joined-up project for each of our 10 sessions.

This year we have focused on National Youth Work Week where young people learnt about the different spaces and places youth work takes place. We also discussed what makes a good youth club and what makes a good youth worker? Feedback from young people was that ‘youth club needed to be free and have lots of free food’ and that youth workers needed to be ‘kind, nonjudgmental’ and ‘easy to talk to’.

Some young people particularly like to craft and when TRAYE was experiencing financial hardship, many young people created sun catchers, jewelry, and pottery to sell at the Harbertonford Craft Fair.

Young people decided to do a Sponsored Walk from Totnes to Staverton, once again to raise funds to keep our sessions up and running. We were also very privileged to have one of our parents, Emma run a marathon for us!

We are so very thankful to our wonderful young people, their parents and carers and the local community members that have supported us throughout this year.

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Trips and Activities:

Throughout 2023 TRAYE completed 15 different trips across the year, these included:

Exeter Winter Wonderland, Plymouth Ski Slope, Adrenalin Trampoline Park, Plymouth Karting, Quay West, River Dart Country Park, Woodlands and various walks, picnics and nature activities.

Through these trips we have reached 235 young people from all of the areas we work in. What’s wonderful is that 33 of these young people were new participants to the TRAYE Project. Trips and activities are paid by donation, and some are subsidized or free for our most vulnerable and lowincome families.

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“I plan the trips with Kerry, we ask other young people what they’d like to see and then we ring up the venues and get things sorted. I’ve even helped write a few risk assessments. It’s important for people like me that the trips are free. My family can’t afford things like that, so I wouldn’t be able to go. Please keep free trips available! (Young Person from YCMAD).

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TRAYE Project Statistics 2023:

Area:	Participants in 2023:	New Contacts 2023:	Total:

Buckfastleigh	90	56	146
Staverton	54	4	58
Dartington	67	38	105
Totnes (YCMAD Forum)	52	51	103
Harbertonford	38	15	53
Marldon	67	36	103
Totnes Youth Leisure Night	98	31	129
Holbeton	32	8	40
Yealmpton	38	10	48
Bridgetown	8	9	17
Berry Pomeroy	12	6	18
One to One Work	2	2	4
Trips/ Events	202	33	235
Young Bank Youth Workers	4	1	5
Young Volunteers	10	2	12

Total number of young people attending our sessions over 2023: 1076

This equates to 757 Individual young people.

NOTE: What we are finding this year is that young people are attending more than one TRAYE session. For example, a young person may access YCMAD Forum, the Totnes Youth Leisure Night, as well as Bridgetown Youth Club. We even have a young person who accesses Yealmpton Youth Club as well as Staverton Youth Club. We feel glad that we can offer young people a broad scope of provision to access.

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“My child struggles with attachment and friendships. The opportunities TRAYE provides have been absolutely crucial to his wellbeing and development. As a family parenting him, we are utterly thankful for the sense of extended support TRAYE has offered” (Parent/ Carer).

Safeguarding:

Keeping young people safe is our biggest priority and we always take any safeguarding concerns seriously and respond in a professional and pro-active way. We have procedures in place to deal with the issues that arise, and all of our staff have the relevant and up to date training required. All our sessions have an on-call manager allocated, so that Lead Workers feel supported and can escalate their concerns in a timely way. To give some insight into the time spent dealing with these issues, please see the table below for a breakdown:

Town/ Parish	Number of Safeguarding Incidents and Concerns 2023
Buckfastleigh	8
Staverton	3
Dartington	2
Totnes (YCMAD) Forum	6
Harbertonford	4
Marldon	6
Totnes Youth Leisure Night	5
Holbeton	2
Yealmpton	3
Bridgetown	1
One to One Work	9
Trips and Events	3
Total:	52

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1:1 support work:

We continue to support young people who are identified as most vulnerable on a 1:1 basis. This work is only carried out by experienced senior staff and robust supervision processes are in place to surround it. In 2023 we supported 6 young people for a total of 40 hours. We also offer online support as well as phone calls and one-off meetings, this has taken approximately another 18 hours and helped us to support another 12 young people. This work is funded from a small pot of money given to us by The Allen Lane Foundation and is a crucial part of our service for young people.

“Coming to youth club and having one to one support has helped me to come to my senses, to get back on track with my learning and stop getting into trouble. As soon as I started meeting regularly for the one-to-one meetings, I stopped getting into so much trouble. It has helped me to grow up and to realise, what ’ s wrong and what ’ s not. I can see light at the end of the tunnel, I feel more positive and believe in myself, and have more hope for the future” (A – Young Person).

Consultation Work:

Through consulting with the young people who regularly attend our provision throughout the year and using the data we received in our 2023 surveys and needs assessments; we have ensured that the TRAYE Project offers:

Free access to our youth clubs as a whole.
Free food and drink at all our sessions, such as hot chocolate, milkshakes, smoothies, pasta bake, curries, toasted sandwiches, jacket potatoes and sweet options such as flapjack and fruit salad. In our most established sessions, food is made from scratch by young people supported by youth workers.
A safe space to relax and meet friends, with games, quizzes, and educational activities to get involved in. We have continued to talk to young people about the current issues that are affecting their mental health and wellbeing.
Free trips and activities are available for those from low-income households. Trips and activities take place during school holiday times, as well as sports and fitness in our sessions such as Non-Contact Boxing, Yoga, Basketball, Swimming and Rounders.
Sessions continue to take place on a two-weekly basis, except for Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café, which runs weekly. Sessions are generally held within Village Halls, although the Buckfastleigh session is held at Inspire Interventions and the Youth Can Make a Difference Forum is held at Kennicott Library.
We continue to offer one to one support to young people who need extra help outside of the sessions and continue to refer young people and their families onto services such as Foodbanks, Social Services, Post 16 Education and Early Help.

Totnes Youth Strategy Work:

This year, one of our Lead Youth Workers, Laura has been working closely with Aydin Boyaciggiler from Caring Town Totnes and other local youth organisations to develop the Totnes Youth Strategy where they hope to gather young people’s voices and opinions in creative ways. Laura is looking to capture young people’s thoughts in a number of ways, through written feedback, film, storytelling and voice recordings.

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Continued professionalisation of TRAYE:

We have now employed Nathan McCabe on a part time basis as our Funding Officer and he spends a day each week researching funding streams, writing bids and reports for funders. To date Nathan has submitted 31 bids and it is very telling that only 10 of these have resulted in funding being awarded even when feedback from funders is positive about the strength of our bid writing.

Our challenge will be to articulate the real issues, concerns, hidden poverty and rural exclusion that impacts the young people we support, especially when more and more funding is aimed at those perceived as ‘most in need’. This is a potentially dangerous approach from funders and can be damaging to those young people who face the difficulties and issues presented by rural isolation, lack of services and lack of opportunities that are so often the realities of the lives of many young people living in more ‘affluent’ postcodes and easily missed by this kind of urban deprivation targeted funding.

More positively however, the funding we have received has meant that we are in a much better place financially than we thought we would be at the end of the year. We have pulled through, faced the challenges and shown real strength and resilience!

Young Bank Youth Workers 2023:

At the beginning of 2022 we said goodbye to Isabella, Jack and Odin who had been employed previously as part of this National Lottery funded scheme and recruited and employed Kyra, Albie, Loui, Ty and Alfie as our next cohort of Young Bank Youth Workers. They completed an online Youth Work Training Programme, delivered by Kerry McCabe with support of Lead Youth Workers.

This training was based around youth work theory, safeguarding and safe practice, drawing upon many of the resources available via the National Youth Agency (NYA) and training modules supplied by The Training Hub. Young Bank Youth Workers completed 6 sessions before going on to work on our sessions, learning valuable Youth Work skills and are now being paid for their time and efforts.

All our Young Bank Youth Workers are aged between 16 – 25 years old and have had positive experiences of community youth work throughout their lives. Many have been part of TRAYE since the beginning (2016) and have continued to grow with the project and are keen to support the services that they once used. We feel pleased to be able to attract young people from a varied mix of backgrounds and to have them as part of the TRAYE Team.

“I’ve been a Young Bank Worker for nearly a year now. I used to come to Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café as a young person and started to have some one to one sessions as I was struggling with a few things. This led on to me doing some volunteering and then becoming a paid youth worker for TRAYE. At first, I was shy and quiet, but this work has helped me become more confident and more able to take a lead when needed. I’m now going off to Camp America! I’ve never travelled before, so this will be a big thing for me, but I feel ready!” (Ty Young Bank Worker).

Young Volunteers:

We are consistently providing opportunities for young people to take on a leadership role within our sessions. Many of our volunteering roles are informal and young people will often help set up or pack down the sessions, prepare and cook food for others as well as support younger members. We do also provide regular and more formal volunteering opportunities, for example within our YCMAD Forum senior members have set volunteering roles and help to make important decisions on where TRAYE should focus its energy in the future.

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We currently have 12 Young Volunteers across the project as a whole. We are so proud of these young people, they are truly committed to TRAYE and often turn up at Town and Parish Council meetings and are regular attendees at the TRAYE Steering Group Meetings.

“I like being a young volunteer. It gives me some pride, like I really care about my role and what I have to do to be successful in it. It gives me purpose and I feel like I’m doing something good” (C – Young Volunteer).

How Youth Work works. An example of TRAYE Youth Work:

A young person aged 11 came to our youth club last year. Initially, the youth club was quieter than it is now, which gave us a good opportunity to get to know her well. She was always cheerful and friendly and always offering to help clear up and so on. She appeared to be very confident and was always talking to us about various things. She would often hang around after the youth club had finished as an excuse to spend more time with us. I think she liked the fact that we listened to her and valued her as a person.

We had a youth support worker join our team, and this worker made a point of spending time with her, offering to help with activities, preparing food, tidying up etc. She enjoyed interacting with the workers more than her peers. It seemed she craved adult connection.

Over time, we all got to know her better by showing support and understanding and consistently being there for her. She started to open up about things that she was worried about and explore who she was as a person.

This year, she started secondary school. The worker we originally had, left the team and went on to university and we had a new one join us. This particular young person connected well with the new worker and built a strong and trusting relationship with him. She has been able to ask him lots of questions about things such as LGBTQ+ issues, things she felt she ‘couldn’t talk about at home’.

We decided to do some work around LGBTQ+ issues in the Youth Club, just opening up some conversation around the subject and looking at the importance of equality and diversity. Anyway, over time, the young person seemed to be more confident in who they were and one day, they walked into youth club with their hair newly shaved on one side, declared they had a new (male) name and wished to be known as ‘they/them’. We accepted and acknowledged their wishes and we could see how important it was for them to have a place to come where they felt free to be who they were.

As a team, I feel we have really helped to support and nurture this young person enough for them to feel safe to open up and explore their thoughts about the world, general feelings and evidently, now, their identity.

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This is how youth work can play a part in helping create a safe space for a young person to grow and learn about themselves as a person. I am proud of the work we did with this young person and it’s wonderful to see them so happy in themselves now.

Adele Marshall – Lead Youth Worker.

A Young Person’s thoughts on the future of TRAYE:

“I never really understand why TRAYE doesn’t get as much funding as it should. Like we’ve applied for so much funding and been turned down a lot. We’ve had enough to keep us going this year, but things got quite hard, and we needed to do lots of fundraising. It would be nice if funders could see how important TRAYE is for all of us. Like it helps so many of us in so many ways. This is my thoughts anyway…TRAYE should be well funded and available to more young people!” (O – Young Person from YCMAD).

What the young people hope TRAYE to achieve in 2024:

We asked the young people to think about what they’d like to see from TRAYE in 2024, they told us:

“I would like to see TRAYE have a bigger reach”

“I want to help set up a young carers group”

“The Leisure Night needs to run weekly”

“More free trips!”

“I want to go to more of TRAYE’S meetings please. It’s nice that we are invited, and I enjoyed the last one as I got to say my piece”

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“Lifts from Holbeton available for trips”

“Quiet room in Holbeton”

“We want Yealmpton to run every week”

“Please stay in Harbertonford! We love youth club”

“Drop in for help around sexual health and other things in Buckfastleigh”

“Trips specifically for younger kids and older kids too”

“More craft fayres”

“More resources in Yealmpton and Holbeton”

“Swimming and more walks please”

“Adrenaline Quarry”

“More Karting”

“Paintball”

“Lots of free food!”

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– Thank you to all our supporters you make TRAYE project possible

The TRAYE Team would like to thank the young people and their families for their continued support over the year, particularly with fundraising. We would also like to say a huge thank you to the TRAYE Trustees, Steering Group and the Town and Parish Councils and of course our wonderful Funders!

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We as a Team pledge our promise to continue supporting young people to the best of our abilities and to continue creating wonderful spaces and places for young people to associate that are inspiring and meaningful but most of all fun!

For more information about the TRAYE Project, please check out:

Website: www.trayeproject.org

Where you will find photos and films of our wonderful sessions.

Our Facebook Pages: FB Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project

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FB Buckfastleigh Youth Wellbeing Café FB Staverton Youth Club FB Dartington Youth Club FB Youth Can Make a Difference Forum FB Bridgetown Youth Club FB Harbertonford Youth Project FB Marldon Youth Club FB Holbeton Youth Club and FB Yealmpton Youth Club .

Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project www.trayeproject.org

End of Year Accounts and financial statements for

Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project

30[th] November 2023

Trustees:

Chair Cllr. Mrs. Jacqueline (Jacqi) Mary Hodgson, 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ

Vice Chair Cllr. Ms. Joanne Rice, 47, Audley Avenue, Torquay, Devon. TQ2 7PB

Secretary Mrs Sandra Mary Curtin-Maggs, The Old Farmhouse, West Ogwell, Newton Abbott, Devon. TQ126EW

Treasurer Cllr. Ms. Jill Hannam, Moorview, Kingsbridge Hill, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5SZ

Cllr. Mrs. Jennifer Anne Clarke, 18, Moorview, Marldon, Paignton, Devon. TQ3 1PL

Cllr. Edward Thomas Vidler, Pennhurst, Sparkwell Lane, Staverton, Devon. TQ9 6AW

Cllr. Trudy Turrell, 22, Droridge, Dartington, Devon. TQ9 6JQ

Cllr. Dr. Nirosha Gunatillake Skylarks, Battisborough Cross, Plymouth. PL8 1JU

Finance Report TRAYE project 2022/23

Current.

The current cash position remains healthy and despite the current economic challenges as we have finally emerged from the COVID pandemic and the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis, our fundraising continues to improve as we have sought funding from a wider range of opportunities. This is reflected in the balance being taken forward which has improved overall on last year’s income and enabled the year to show a small surplus over expenditure, allowing a better start for year 9 with improved reserves.

This Year.

Kerry and her team have submitted a number of good size funding bids this year, as well as taking advantage of new wellbeing and associated community support grants. We have been very successful in these and again with the National Lottery Fund’s Reaching Community grants. It is clear however, that competition for grants remains very tough and TRAYE project went through a particularly difficult period mid-year which while challenging at the time, we managed to pull though.

The Parish Council contributions and the District and County Councillor Locality Funds for all the Town and Parishes involved in TRAYE project have given good support to the project, however with the County Council Locality funds having been greatly reduced further in line with their own financial constraints, this has impacted on TRAYE’s income.

Last year was particularly challenging for TRAYE funding. So although the decision was taken to expand the project into three new parishes, Holberton, Yealmpton and Berry Pomeroy (Bridgetown), from September 2023 which has expanded our liabilities, this was matched with a decision to ask all the participating parishes to increase their annual contribution (from approximately 40%) to 50% of the costs of delivering services in each parish. This was based on the average costs of delivering a fortnightly service at approximately £7,000; some parishes have more than just one service and the funding request to those parishes was multiplied accordingly. This decision was taken on the basis of the rise in costs in delivering services, including the rise in attendees requiring more Youth Workers to be present at TRAYE project activities and events, and the need to ensure that the project remains sustainable with a higher base level of guaranteed income and financial security.

During 2022/23 we spent just over £94,000.00 and had had 757 young people regularly attending our meetings and events, that works out at approximately £124.00 per young person, a slight rise on last year but still excellent value for money and the young people certainly deserve it.

Longer Term.

Forward budgeting predictions at TRAYE project indicate our annual income needed is around £100,000 if we remain at the same level of provision and to ensure a healthy reserve to cover our employee liabilities, although any further cost of living inflation is likely to have an impact on this estimate.

End of Year Summary

Receipts and Payments Account for year ended 30[th] November 2023

Restricted Reserves brought forward: Cash at bank: Co-Operative Bank Monese Accounts	2023 £ £ 20,611.32 1,091.48 21,702.80	2022 £ £ 39,172 34 39,206

Restricted Grants and Donations received:

Devon County Council Locality Funds: Cllr Jonathan Hawkins 250.00 Cllr Jacqi Hodgson 3,000.00 Cllr Dan Thomas 1,000.00 Cllr Sarah Parker-Khan 200.00 4,450.00 South Hams District Council Locality Funds: Cllr John Birch 200.00 Cllr Tom Edie 500.00 Cllr Jacqi Hodgson 1,000.00 Cllr Sam Penfold 200.00 Cllr Anna Presswell 200.00 2,100.00 Town & Parish Council contributions Buckfastleigh 10,535.80 Dartington 2,500.00 Harberton 2,500.00 Holbeton 1,666.67 Marldon 2,100.00 Staverton 2,500.00 Totnes 3,750.00 Yealmpton 2,500.00 28,052.47 PayPal – Just Giving donations 3,256.28 National Lottery: Reaching Communities 20,641.50 Little Lives, UK 1,880.00 Albert Hunt Trust 2,000.00 National Grid, UK 1,429.00 Allen Lane Foundation 4,160.00 The Rank Foundation 250.00 Gosling Foundation 5,000.00 Garfield Weston Foundation 5,000.00 Groundwork UK 500.00 Leathersellers Award 2,500.00 The Foyle Foundation 5,000.00 Northcott Devon Foundation 167.00 Devon Youth Service - SPACE grant 4,980.00 Devon C. C. Active Together Fund 9,968.80 SHDC - Hardship & Wellbeing Fund 2,500.00 Miscellaneous Donations 503.43 69,736.01	104,338.48 126,041.28	71,205 110,411

Continues/…

2023 2022 £ £ £ £ Brought forward 126,041.28 110,411

Expenses

HMRC NEST Pension contributions Youth Worker fees Travel costs Materials for Youth sessions Venue Hire Refreshments & food at sessions Transport hire to external events Projects and group outings Admin, Recruitment & Training Website development and hosting Miscellaneous (calls, printing, insurance) Bank Charges Restricted Reserves carried forward: Cash at Co-operative Bank at 01.12.23 Monese accounts (total) at 01.12.23	7,327.58 2,429.75 63,000.34 4,523.39 2,169.34 672.50 3,222.31 1,143.00 8,569.21 858.70 240.00 761.40 nil. 94,917.52 __ 30,807.74 316.02 31,123.76	6,364 1,914 57,318 4,895 2,733 339 4,728 1,332 5,879 822 1,560 819 5 20,611 1,092	88,708 21,703

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----- Start of picture text -----
year 8
01.12.22 – 30.11.23
TRAYE Project Accounts Ledger
----- End of picture text -----

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Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project www.trayeproject.org

End of Year Accounts and

financial statements for

Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project

30[th] November 2023

Trustees:

Chair	Cllr. Mrs. Jacqueline (Jacqi) Mary Hodgson,
	9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ
Vice Chair	Cllr. Ms. Joanne Rice,
	47, Audley Avenue, Torquay, Devon. TQ2 7PB
Secretary	Mrs Sandra Mary Curtin-Maggs,
	The Old Farmhouse, West Ogwell, Newton Abbott, Devon. TQ126EW
Treasurer	Cllr. Ms. Jill Hannam,
	Moorview, Kingsbridge Hill, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5SZ
	Cllr. Mrs. Jennifer Anne Clarke,
	18, Moorview, Marldon, Paignton, Devon. TQ3 1PL
	Cllr. Edward Thomas Vidler,
	Pennhurst, Sparkwell Lane, Staverton, Devon. TQ9 6AW
	Cllr. Trudy Turrell,
	22, Droridge, Dartington, Devon. TQ9 6JQ
	Cllr. Dr. Nirosha Gunatillake
	Skylarks, Battisborough Cross, Plymouth. PL8 1JU

TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270 Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.

Finance Report TRAYE project 2022/23

Current.

This Year.

Longer Term.

TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270 Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.

End of Year Summary

Receipts and Payments Account for year ended 30[th] November 2023

	2023
	£	£ £	£
Restricted Reserves brought forward:
Cash at bank: Co-Operative Bank		20,611	39,172
Monese Accounts		1,092	34
		21,703	39,206

Restricted Grants and Donations received:

Devon County Council Locality Funds: Cllr Jonathan Hawkins 250 Cllr Jacqi Hodgson 3,000 Cllr Dan Thomas 1,000 Cllr Sarah Parker-Khan 2004,450 South Hams District Council Locality Funds: Cllr John Birch 200 Cllr Tom Edie 500 Cllr Jacqi Hodgson 1,000 Cllr Sam Penfold 200 Cllr Anna Presswell 2002,100 Town & Parish Council contributions Buckfastleigh 10,536 Dartington 2,500 Harberton 2,500 Holbeton 1,666 Marldon 2,100 Staverton 2,500 Totnes 3,750 Yealmpton 2,50028,052 PayPal – Just Giving donations 3,256 National Lottery: Reaching Communities 20,642 Little Lives, UK 1,880 Albert Hunt Trust 2,000 National Grid, UK 1,429 Allen Lane Foundation 4,160 The Rank Foundation 250 Gosling Foundation 5,000 Garfield Weston Foundation 5,000 Groundwork UK 500 Leathersellers Award 2,500 The Foyle Foundation 5,000 Northcott Devon Foundation 167 Devon Youth Service - SPACE grant 4,980 Devon C. C. Active Together Fund 9,969 SHDC - Hardship & Wellbeing Fund 2,500 Miscellaneous Donations 503 69,736	104,338 126,041	71,205 110,411

Continues/…

TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270 Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.

2023

2022

£ £ £

126,041

110,411

Brought forward

Expenses

HMRC NEST Pension contributions Youth Worker fees Travel costs Materials for Youth sessions Venue Hire Refreshments & food at sessions Transport hire to external events Projects and group outings Admin, Recruitment & Training Website development and hosting Miscellaneous (calls, printing, insurance) Bank Charges Restricted Reserves carried forward: Cash at Co-operative Bank at 01.12.23 Monese accounts (total) at 01.12.23	7,328 2,430 63,000 4,523 2,169 672 3,222 1,143 8,569 859 240 762 Nil _ 30,808 316	94,917 ______ 31,124	6,364 1,914 57,318 4,895 2,733 339 4,728 1,332 5,879 822 1,560 819 5 20,611 1,092	88,708 21,703

TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270 Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.

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5
TRAYE Project is a Charitable Incorporated Company (CIO). Charity Number 1174270
Registered address: c/o 9, Argyle Terrace, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 5JJ.
year 8
01.12.22 – 30.11.23
TRAYE Project Accounts Ledger
----- End of picture text -----

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Totnes Rural Area Youth Engagement Project members of On accounts for the year 30[th] November 2023 Charity no 1174270 ended (if any)

Set out on pages 3 & 4

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30/11/2023.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 22[nd] July 2024

Signed: Name: Peter D Bethel Relevant professional F.C.A qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address: Tingrith, Ashburton Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5JU

October 2018

IER

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

October 2018

IER