## Euphoric Circus CIO Annual Report 2021 - 2022 SEPTEMBER 22 EUPHORIC CIRCUS CIO Charity number 1184804 Euphoric Circus CIO Charity No. 1184804 39, Chase Park, PENRITH, Cumbria, CA11 8UY Telephone: 07709428361 Board members: Sharon Hannah - Chairperson Kevin Hodgson - Deputy Chairperson Kirsty Mahoney - Secretary Bilal Ahem - Treasurer – Toni Spence Coordinator/Development officer ## Euphoric Circus CIO’s charitable mission is 1. The promotion of vocational training in circus skills 2. Promotion of education and training in the creative and artistic application of circus skills in artistic performance. ## Chairpersons report Firstly, again I would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the amazing things we have accomplished this year. Having the opportunity to look back on the year and see how we have grown as a group and as individuals within the group is really rewarding and a credit to the hard work that we put in. I would also like to thank the volunteers who give up their time for free to help deliver our work in the community, their commitment to the sessions is invaluable, and make the work that we do fantastic and brilliant. Our team is an array of colourful characters who keep our sessions interesting and engaging. The last year has been filled with wonderful opportunities and many challenges. Here are some of the highlights. * **The continuation of running the Healthy Activities Food** program with during the school holidays with feed back from parents such as “ my child couldn't wait for you to do the Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 program again” and “they couldn't wait to get to the activities waiting from 8 o'clock this morning” - **Continuing our leadership programme for the young and producing 2** ## **young leaders** - **Christmas H A F and performance for parents** - **Our coffee morning and AGM** - **Jubilee workshop in Appleby** - **Revisiting NYCE** National Youth Circus Event (National Institute of Circus Arts London) - **The activities day out for the young leaders’ award for their hard work** - **Carrying out workshops in the community for all ages** . Very excited about the future as moving forward we are planning on getting 2 of our group through level 2 and level 3 youth work training with the Better Tomorrows program and be able to broaden our horizons into youth training. We are all truly grateful for everyone that has given up their time to be a part of this initiative and we hope that we can count on your continued support in the future. Yours sincerely Sharon Hannah Chair person Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 ## YOUNG LEADERS’ LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 21-22 Thanks to Cumbria Community Foundation, our leadership programme has been put into place for some of our older members. Young people over the age of 15 years can sign up to be a leader once they have a good general understanding of most of our workshop tools. They will receive training in equal opportunities, health and safety, safeguarding, basic first aid and mental health first aid, as well as ethical work values such as team building, punctuality and time management, and confidence building. Creating a support network for developing transferrable skills that will help prepare them for life in the work place, no matter what their job will be. Each young leader will be assigned a mentor (of their choice) and will volunteer for the group clocking up many hours of experience, and giving content to their first curriculum vitae. These voluntary hours can also work alongside other awards schemes such as The Duke of Edinburgh SEASONAL COMMUNITY WORKSHOP, PERFORMANCE & EVENT PRODUCED BY YOUNG LEADERS Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 ## **Youth ambassador statement** As the lead youth ambassador of Euphoric Circus, I was lucky enough to be part of a consultation through Cumbria County Council, where me and several other young people were given the opportunity to share our concerns, challenges and visions and ideas for youth provisions in Cumbria. This was taken into account and contributed some much-needed feedback to youth work providers in the area as well as third sector organisations involved in youth provisions. It was noted that young people lack a sense of belonging in their community, which has led to a lack of engagement from young people. As a consequence of this there is little to no projects that involve voluntary engagement and active participation. After discovering this, I have volunteered with Euphoric Circus, helping to develop our young leadership programme and encouraging input from our participants on what they would like to see and do in our group, and in their wider communities. I personally have felt the positive impact of actively participating in young leadership projects. It has helped me to improve my knowledge around topics like health and safety, safeguarding, first aid, group harmony and many other transferrable skills. This has all helped me to develop self-efficacy and self-esteem, making me feel like my voice is heard, and valued. It has helped me to realise the potential I have to influence my community, as a young person and has inspired me to continue to develop my career path in youth work and social care. I look forward to developing this in the future, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities and support that Euphoric Circus has given me. – Lizzy Hudspith-Spence aged 16 Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 ## **HEALTHY ACTIVITIES AND FOOD PROGRAM 2021 TO 2022** We offered an eight-day program in both Penrith and Appleby to young people and children ages 5 to 18, offering a cooked healthy meal and a four-hour session of physical activities, cooking, arts and crafts, health and nutrition advice and socially interactive games. Our main aim was to give the participants the chance to socialise and to enjoy this again, with no pressure to achieve anything but self-improvement and awareness of self-care in a healthy way such as physical activity and healthy eating. Being aware and understanding that the two things are closely related and can affect everyday life is integral to young people’s wellbeing. During the summer and winter activities we used games and trust exercises to build friendships and reduce the social isolation during the holidays. We started the weeks with introduction games to help everyone break the ice and create an environment where people were encouraged and felt safe to make new friends. Throughout the weeks we continued playing a wide variety of games to help the participants build confidence around each other. We used trust games and then acro balance to help with this too. We also encouraged everyone to engage with all activities, including the young leaders, where possible to reduce the feeling of isolation and loneliness while at the sessions. The participants were also encouraged to work in smaller groups or pairs to enable tighter bonds to be made. We also provided arts and crafts projects for the participants to work on as a team during the week. Felt tips, stickers, paint and coloured paper were some of the equipment we used in order to make everyone feel as though they could join in. We also created activities where the participants can get involved with preparing, serving and eating food, Aswell as making space for a reading corner with fairy lights, beanbags and blankets for those with sensory issues, who may like to sit and take a moment when the environment is too much. Most parents that we spoke to were incredibly grateful to find activities for their children to do for the holidays, some expressing how expensive most activities are. Parents returned with funny stories of their children being exhausted and Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 satisfied when returning home after the day and expressing excitement at returning to the sessions. Children spoke to their parents about making new friends and learning new things. We gave them the freedom to decide on art work that they produced and did splatter painting to express how they were feeling, as well as giving them time to work on art projects as a group and made a fabulous food and circus themed poster. The children enjoyed the games that we offered as icebreakers, their favourite games where based on improvisation, such as natural disaster game where they imagine what they would do in a scenario and act it out. This tells us that they were comfortable to be themselves around the other participants as well as our staff. We offered games in the theme of food and being in the canteen in QEGS and UCC added to the theme with art work in the room of fruit and vegetables, this inspired them to recognise different foods and some fabulous art work inspired by their surroundings. There were a few children that have been going through the transition from junior to senior school during the lockdown and we believe that we gave them a little more confidence going forward into what is an important time in them developing. We worked with transition ages from infants to junior school which is also a tricky time. Being in an environment of a variety of ages, with little to no seclusion based on age, seemed to really benefit those transitioning to a bigger school, as it prepares them for being around older peers. We worked with some families that had up to 3 siblings, our activities allowed them to be together yet find space from each other too. Some parents mentioned that it was a great way for the m to enjoy each other’s company again in an environment where they are not cooped up together. It sometimes also gave parents the space to give one of the children some much needed attention without their younger sibling demanding the attention. We had activities where the children were involved in preparing their own food such as pizza and wraps where they were able to understand and prepare the ingredients that they ate. Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 l Euphoric O• Circus. Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021- 2022 ## **HAF SESSIONS 12 DAYS IN TOTAL PER TOWN X 2 (PENRITH AND APPLEBY)** Number of activities promoting healthy lifestyles Actual value 24 Number of groups providing health-related activities Actual value 4 Number of hours of sport, exercise & leisure activities provided by projects Actual value 144 96 hours for HAF 4 hours per session x 24 sessions plus since July to December 12 weeks at 4 hours per week regular sessions during term times = 48 hours Number of new hours of sport, exercise & leisure activities provided by project Actual value 96 evidence 96 hours for HAF 4 hours per session x 24 sessions Number of people reported improved physical / mental / emotional health value 65 All participants but some parents too Number of people who participated in sport, exercise & leisure activities value 56 All participants ## **Development report** It has been an absolute pleasure to be involved with coordinating and developing the leadership program with Euphoric Circus. The young leaders have astounded all of us with their commitment, respect, and responsibility of helping deliver such valuable projects. We have delivered a small program of activities for the community, reaching children and their families around Eden. By having the opportunity to help families in need of support during school holidays, it has given the young leaders lots of experience in delivering activities. This has allowed them to build up hours of experience, and achieve awards in levelling up on the program and this has tied in well with the Duke of Edinburgh award for the younger volunteers. I would like to recognise the volunteers, who have helped us deliver within the community. We cannot do this without you. To young and old volunteers, parents, trainees, assistant leaders, and now young leaders, and most of all our trustees. The community thanks you. The future is exciting! We have up and coming programs that will offer even more opportunities for young people, including young leader initiatives, HAF delivery in the holidays and a very exciting opportunity in youth working, thanks to the Better Tomorrow’s program of which we hope to be a part of rolling out throughout Cumbria. I look forward to working with you all in the future. Toni Spence Development officer Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 We would like to thank our funders and their continued support. |Cumbria CountyCouncil|regular session costs||£4,944.00|ccc regular sessions| |---|---|---|---|---| |HAF Cumbria CountyCouncil|winter HAF Penrith and
Appleby||£2,780.00|winter HAF fund| |HAF Cumbria CountyCouncil|Easter HAF Appleby and
Penrith||£3,364.00|
Easter HAF| |HAF Cumbria CountyCouncil|summer HAF|||summer HAF| ||||£9,049.00|| |HAF Cumbria CountyCouncil|winter HAF Penrith and
Appleby||£3,795.00|
winter HAF fund| |Cumbria Community
Foundation|match fundingfor HAF||£1,000.00|match fund for HAF
2022| Thanks to Cumbria Community Foundation for supporting our leadership program and helping to create opportunities for our young people in Eden. Also, a big thank you to Cumbria County Council for helping us create opportunities and spaces for our young people. Euphoric Circus CIO annual report 2021 - 2022 Income & Ex nditure Account for the ar ember 2022 1,087.50 28,722.￿) ..Subxript¥ons .'Grants from various fvndin8 bodies 2,883.35 22,640.20 552.00 9,340.00 Rent SessK)n and admin fees Advertlsing and rnaFketin8 EntertaSnment 4,665.01 18,968.08 918.S9 458.46 71