ANNUAL REPORT 2020 TO 2021 l Euphoric O• Circus. cool The best! wonderfull < greatinteresting . goodmakes me happy . Acro-balancefun wow nice amazingnew skills enjoyable gymnastic friendly
WHO WE ARE
We are Euphoric Circus, a charity that promotes healthy living, education in physical literacy and facilitating social interaction through circus and performing arts. We have existed as a community group since 2005 and became a charity in 2019. We pride ourselves on being youth and community led, as well as giving young people opportunities and experience outside of conventional education. We encourage them to explore their originality and identity, to expand their options and help them realise the potential they have to influence their community as young people. Our project was developing very well for both of our regular training sessions in Appleby and Penrith up until the beginning of the pandemic.
OUR TRUSTEES
SHARON HANNAH – CHAIR PERSON KEVIN HODGSON - DEPUTY CHAIR PERSON ELLIE DOBSON - TREASURER KIRSTY MAHONEY – SECRETARY TONI SPENCE - CO-ORDINATOR
OUR FUNDERS
Cumbria County Council 0 to 19 fund Cumbria Community Foundation Active Cumbria Dream scheme Cumbria Youth Alliance Community and social fund national lottery
OUR SUPPORTERS AND AFFILIATES
Cumbria County Council Cumbria Voluntary Services Cumbria Youth Alliance National Institute of Circus Arts Circus Works Dynamix Skate park Gateshead London Parkour Academy
Report of trustees for the year ending October 21 Euphoric Circus Annual Report
Chairperson
It’s been my first year as chair, and what a year it has been for us since becoming a CIO. We have been able to take a couple of our students to the NYCE (National Youth Circus Event) which was an amazing opportunity to network with other youth social circuses from all over England, make new friends, broadening our students’ mindsets and taking part in new skills usually unavailable to us.
Shortly after that, we had to postpone our workshops on the 12th March 2020 for an indefinite amount of time, due to the spread of COVID-19, and also had to cancel our plans for the summer events.
This has not stopped us from finding different ways of connecting with our students, which is most important to us during this time of lockdown, and knowing the negative effects isolation can have on individuals and communities.
As soon as lockdown allowed us to meet outside, we set up an open-air summer workshop in Penrith, taking the necessary precautions through government covid-19 guidelines. This gave our students the opportunity to continue their training with us and socialise again.
In this relaxed lockdown we put together a show in which we videoed and created an online event. This was an alternative way for our students to show their skills that they have been learning in the workshops and for family and friends to enjoy.
Lockdown began for a third time, which forced us to close our workshops again, but this did not dampen our attempts to bring people together. We pulled together and redirected our energies into finding the appropriate funders, and found some success with the National Lottery Community Fund and Dream Scheme through Cumbria Youth Alliance. With the re-directed money that we match-funded (from Active Cumbria) from pre-existing costs for delivery of sessions, we created videos to teach our students how to make circus equipment i.e. poi, staffs and juggling balls. We also wrote up a leadership program for our older and
higher skilled students to record and structure their training and achievements, through voluntary opportunities and sign-posted training. We are starting this as soon as we’re open, and are currently developing it.
In closing I would like to thank all the trustees for their hard work within their roles throughout the year, as well as any and all volunteers involved.
A BRIEF HISTORY ON OUR RECENT ACTIVITIES
Coordinators report
In 2020, while running two well attended sessions, we carried out a brief training session in safeguarding and health and safety with 4 young volunteers during their induction.
We also started skill wheels with participants to track their own development and aspirations.
Unfortunately, due to the lock down our groups had to stop. At this time I put my time into the administration of the group and remaining in contact with members and their families. During this time I wrote up a program for young leaders to be able to volunteer, with a log book and assessment points and exercises. We hoped to start delivering this in the end of 2020.
Online training has been achieved by leaders including safeguarding level 1 and 2, data protection and mental health first aid. We have produced an online update for members and newsletter’s for families who may want to make use of our services when the restrictions are lifted. From this we have created a mailing list where we can keep families updated on our workshops and events. We are now looking at starting up workshops again, albeit with restricted numbers, and in a temporary alternate venue in Penrith. We were advised to use the Methodist hall in Penrith during this time, where we were welcomed by the church.
Due to Covid-19, I mostly worked from home and the administration I covered included: writing newsletters and updates, building on a mailing list, writing lesson plans, devising and writing assessment points for the leadership program, including a leadership booklet for trainees, and ensuring valuable work experience in it such as mental health first aiding, data protection and safeguarding for volunteers and trainees. We hope to use all of this once we start up again in September.
We shared advice to our members around mental health and for families to be signposted to support or training for them.
We also carried out a number of open-air workshops nearing the end of the summer holidays.
As most people did not expect the virus to restrict day to day life for a whole year, we held back from doing a large amount of online activities at first.
We could see that some families were challenged once again in November 2020 with the home school environment. We planned to bring our classes online to give young people a physical break from all the academic pressure, as our usual face-to-face sessions aim to do. Circus skills have been proven to help concentration in a normal school environment and is also beneficial in relieving stress. We want them to know that they are not alone with this task, that other families are struggling as well, and that there is support available.
We use our Facebook platform to send out information to support parents and families during these times. We would like to increase our presence and be a sign-posting group that can assist in helping people discover support that may be available for them. This will expand our community and allow our members to find each other, to reduce isolation which is an ongoing issue in our area without the added complication of the pandemic.
EUPHORIC CIRCUS ACTION PLAN FEB 2020 TO 2022
STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD
Become more funding based. After attempting to carry out activities in a commercial way in 2019, trustees concluded that the group cannot be sustained without financial support. The trusties decided to continue forward as a CIO to enable the group to become more eligible for funding.
Action
To improve methods of recording reach (who we work with) and location of people (in which areas).
Measure achievements of young people how it has helped them improve in life. Case studies explaining in a time line of pre-Euphoric Circus and during training plus how these skills can be used later in life.
Over all group achievements how this can impact on our local community.
Group development i.e. participants, volunteers, trainees’ families and community.
Networking with other circus groups. The youth circus community.
Continue the groups legacy. Develop sustainability for the group in the community. Collaborate with local groups. Encourage engagement. i.e. blue jam – schools and leisure centres.
Look towards building referrals through the NHS. Services such as mind MENCAP and local arts groups and unemployment services,
Parents and toddler groups. Mental health awareness, at risk teenagers
Seek to promote our services such as public performances and workshops.
Promote our services better online . Encourage participants to engage online during social distancing restrictions. Expand our reach through online interaction.
Timeline for charity management report.
September 2019, we became a registered charity officially starting in September.
Our first event as a charity was at The Evergreen community centre in Penrith where we brought together members from both sessions to celebrate becoming a charity.
Fundraising event at Morrisons where we raised over £100 bag packing.
This was a good start to a new term where we had on average 15 attendees at both regular sessions.
| APPLEBY | AGES 5 to 11 = 6 |
BOYS 4 |
GIRLS 2 |
AGES 12 to 18 = 10 |
BOYS 4 |
GIRLS 6 |
TOTAL 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PENRITH | AGES 5 to 11 = 5 |
BOYS 2 |
GIRLS 3 |
AGES 12 to 18 = 14 |
BOYS 11 |
GIRLS 4 |
TOTAL 19 |
We attended other events around Cumbria such as Tully house museum where we helped to create a circus theme to go along with their mini fairground exhibition, Cumbria pride event where we came across many of our members who were attending the event anyway. We were invited back to both of these events but due to the pandemic we were unable to attend during 2020.
NATIONAL YOUTH CIRCUS EVENT LONDON
In February 2020 our group was invited to join the National youth Circus Event at The National Institute of Circus Arts in London. 2 of our young ambassadors travelled to London with 2 adult leaders. We took 2 of our participants to the national youth circus event in London in February. This was a fantastic experience and gave trickle down training for leaders and participants.
We all spent the weekend networking and partaking in workshops at the centre and this was the opinion of our young ambassadors of the weekend.
This was a great opportunity for our group to network with other circus groups and to share experiences with other young people who enjoy training in circus and are part of a similar group to our own.
The event also offered training for experienced and new leaders and practitioners. This is invaluable to our groups leaders to exchange experiences and share working practice to improve the whole network and to maintain best practice among the youth circus industry.
OUTDOOR WORKSHOPS WITHIN COVID 19 RESTRICTIONS
In August 2020 we carried out socially distanced open-air workshops. This attracted new members but at this time we were only able to train in general circus.
INDOOR WORKSHOPS WITHIN COVID 19 RESTRICTIONS
During September to October 2020 we were finally able to begin indoor classes with restricted numbers at a maximum of 6 participants per session. we ran some of our indoor sessions and the demand was above the amount of people that we could cater for. Parents were struggling with home schooling and they missed the outlet that we provide for young people to let off steam during our circus training. Just listening to parents talk to each other about the relief to get them active was very rewarding.
Thanks to the Dream scheme initiative through Cumbria Youth Alliance and project planning by some of our young leaders, we had the pleasure to use these sessions to help make a video for our cancelled live local event (due to Covid-19) In these sessions we devised a performance to be shown at our online event The Festival of Fire and Light in October 2020 when the third lock down came into force.
We were able to let the young people perform their skills in U.V. or black light and this was a lovely part of our video to add to the rest of the production that was performed by our leaders.
ONLINE WORKSHOPS IN 2021
February 2021 As the lock down restrictions were extended we applied for support to the national lottery community fund to deliver online classes to our participants to see us to the point of the restrictions being relaxed.
This was match funded by active Cumbria on the online tutorial delivery.
These videos have been useful for members to continue developing their skills while in lock down and will be used for future reference for young leaders to learn the correct progression in teaching these skills.
These are the results of our reach before covid 19
We have remained in contact with our members and increase interaction despite the challenges.
STATISTICS FROM CUMBRIA SAFEGUARDING PARTNERSHIP
Top Ten Issues 2020 – All Users of Kooth Child Mental Health Contacts to the 1 Anxiety/stress 2 Family Relationships 2 Self-harm Safeguarding Hub 2019/20 2020/21 Cumbria
3 Self-harm 3 Family relationships North Cumbria • 868 contacts relating to 4 Self-worth 4 Self-worth child mental health were received in 5 Friendships 5 Sadness 6 Loneliness 6 Suicidal thoughts 2019/20, 7% of the total. In 2020/21 this
7 Eating difficulties 7 Depression increased to 939 (8%) • North Cumbria had a 8 Suicidal Thoughts 8 Friendships 9 School/College issue 9 Eating Difficulties similar proportion at 8% in 20/21, an increase
10 Depression 10 Sexuality from the previous year’s figure of 6%.
National Statistics
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In 2020, one in six (16.0%) children aged 5 to 16 years were identified as having a probable mental disorder, increasing from one in nine (10.8%) in 2017. The increase was evident in both boys and girls
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The likelihood of a probable mental disorder increased with age with a noticeable difference in gender for the older age group (17 to 22 years); 27.2% of young women and 13.3% of young men were identified as having a probable mental disorder • Among those aged 5 to 22 years, 58.9% with a probable mental disorder reported having sleep problems.
North Cumbria Referrals by area in QTR4 20/21 Carlisle 41% Eden 13% Allerdale 27% Copeland 19%
National Statistics cont’d
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Children aged 5 to 16 years with a probable mental disorder were more than twice as likely to live in a household that had fallen behind with payments (16.3%), than children unlikely to have a mental disorder (6.4%)
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Among 11 to 16-year-old girls, 63.8% with a probable mental disorder had seen or heard an argument among adults in the household, compared with 46.8% of those unlikely to have a mental disorder
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Children aged 5 to 16 years with a probable mental disorder were more than twice as likely to live in a household that had fallen behind with payments (16.3%), than children unlikely to have a mental disorder (6.4%)
VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES
The coordinator has finalised the preparation needed for our leadership program to start up when we start face to face delivery in summer 21.
The charity wants to work on sustainability for the group and recruiting more volunteers will help us deliver a consistent program with their help, in exchange we offer essential experience in working as part of a team and by building self confidence in individuals, we will help them realise their own hard skills to go forward into further training or employment. This can also be a gentle introduction back to employment for individuals who are struggling to get back after a time being out of employment due to the virus.
| 07/08/2019 Opening bank balance 09/08/2019 Andrew Hupspith payment 02/09/2019 Paid in Penrith 16/09/2019 Evergreen C Centre B & M Retail Ltd 26/09/2019 Cheque 100115 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School 03/10/2019 Facebook 14/10/2019 The Blakemoor Foundation Donation 01/11/2019 M A Spence Tully Paid in Penrith 04/11/2019 Cheque 100117 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School 13/11/2019 Cheque 100116 - Appleby Sports Centre 02/12/2019 Paid in Penrith 10/12/2019 Cheque 100118 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School 11/12/2019 Cumbria County Council - Funding received 12/12/2019 Cheque 100114 - Appleby Sports Centre 19/12/2019 Home Bargains 02/01/2020 Cumbria CVS DBS Sharon Hannah 07/01/2020 Paid in Penrith 27/01/2020 M A Spence Session fee 29/01/2020 Cheque 100119 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School 03/02/2020 S S Hannah Travel exp 05/02/2020 Cheque 100122 - Printing 11/02/2020 Cheque 100120 - Appleby Sports Centre 24/02/2020 National Centre … 03/03/2020 Facebook - Advertising 06/03/2020 Cheque 100123 - Queen Elizabeth Grammar School 09/03/2020 The Dog Beck The Dog Beck 25/03/2020 Cheque 100124 - Appleby Sports Centre 31/03/2020 M A Spence Session fee Queen Elizabeth school rent 05/05/2020 Queen Elizabeth school rent 12/05/2020 Hencilla 20/05/2020 M A Spence Admin 01/09/2020 Closing bank balance |
Payments Receipts 1,112.77 -400.00 712.77 80.00 792.77 -70.00 722.77 -9.97 712.80 -180.00 532.80 -12.52 520.28 50.00 570.28 -350.00 220.28 250.00 470.28 -108.00 362.28 -36.00 326.28 787.00 1,113.28 -144.00 969.28 3,640.00 4,609.28 -64.80 4,544.48 -10.71 4,533.77 -15.00 4,518.77 191.80 4,710.57 -240.00 4,470.57 -144.00 4,326.57 -131.50 4,195.07 -22.00 4,173.07 -180.00 3,993.07 -5.00 3,988.07 -9.98 3,978.09 -216.00 3,762.09 -3.20 3,758.89 -10.40 3,748.49 -54.00 3,694.49 -660.00 3,034.49 -108.00 2,926.49 -36.00 2,890.49 -691.04 2,199.45 -1,000.00 1,199.45 1,199.45 -4,912.12 4,998.80 |
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Examined and verified by Fiona M Bishop, ACCA Affiliate Dated 31st May 2021