2024-03-31-accounts

Registered charity no 1185239

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

FOR

PRUDHOE YOUTH PROJECT

Prudhoe Youth Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 March 2024

The trustees present the directors’ report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name: Prudhoe Youth Project

Charity registration number: 1185239

Registered Office and operational address:

Spetchells Centre

58 Front Street

Prudhoe

NE42 5AA

Website: prudhoeyouthproject.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prudhoeyouthproject

Trustees

Donald Hutton Chair appointed 21[st] March 2019 Dorothy Emily Dickinson Vice Chair appointed 17[th] October 2019 Jessica Hosking Treasurer appointed 18[th] November 2021 Stuart John Rutherford-Orrock Trustee appointed 8[th] November 2023 Stephen Thompson Thoburn Trustee appointed 28[th] September 2023 Vesta Elizabeth Moore Trustee appointed 28[th] April 2022 Kirstie Sarah Sample Trustee appointed 16[th] September 2021 Angie Scott Trustee appointed 13[th] February 2020 Dorothy Emily Dickinson Trustee appointed 17[th] October 2019 Gerald Bernard Price Trustee appointed 19[th] September 2019

Company Secretary

Gemma Nixon, Youth Project Manager

Independent Examiner

Digital Accountancy

Spetchells Centre

58 Front Street

Prudhoe

NE42 5AA

Bank

Unity Trust Bank plc

Nine Brindleyplace

Birmingham

B1 2HB

Our Aims and Objectives

PYP helps young people reach their full potential by providing activities and support for young people in Prudhoe in ways that:

• Are based on what young people say they need

• Are delivered on their own terms

• Integrate young people with additional needs

• Recognise the increasing mental health issues among young people

• Support LGBT+ young people

• Provide support and guidance to vulnerable young people

• Promote wellbeing generally among young people

Meeting the public benefit requirement

Trustees are aware of their duty to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

In meeting their purpose ‘ to help young people reach their full potential “’ they have run centre based and off site visits for young people and work with other youth groups to improve provision of services for young people.

Chairs report from Don Hutton

The Prudhoe Youth Project continues to serve the youth of Prudhoe and the more local area. There has been a growth in staff numbers and finance has been made available to meet the needs of the Project.

We still await news of a more permanent home from which to work from but until then we continue to utilise local rented properties.

The Project is well served by a group of suitably skilled and loyal Trustees and these combined with an excellent and equally well qualified staff enable us to not only exist but flourish as a major Youth Service in the area.

Report on Activities

We have had a strong year focusing on consistency and the development of positive relationships with young people. Keeping our doors open all year round and offering open access youth work is at the heart of everything we do.

PYP have been busy delivering regular projects which include Senior Youth Club, West Wylam Youth Club, Junior Youth Club, Girls/Lads Groups, Lego Club and the Health Drop-in at PCHS (Prudhoe Community High School). We have completed 2 short term projects this year, focusing on the climate change and exploring art.

Here is a sample of the year's events, projects, activities, residential opportunities and trips.

April 2023 – March 2024 Statistics

• We have seen 325 members join this year. 42% of them identify as male while 58% identify as female.

• We have worked with young people 4,536 times over this 12-month period.

• Our busiest sessions are Junior Youth Club with an average of 25 attending each week and West Wylam Club which sees on average 21 young people a week.

• We have delivered support to 137 young people individually and over 430 through group/lunchtime/ assemblies addressing sexual and mental health.

• We have delivered 22 trips, 2 residential opportunities and supported 3 community events this year.

Easter Residential

We took 23 young people away to Hawkhirst Scout Activity Centre, Kielder. Young people took part in adventurous activities which helped young people gain new skills including teamwork, gaining self-esteem, trying something new, and challenging themselves.

We were able to support young people who have special educational needs on this trip. These young people challenged themselves and enjoyed being part of the team. Overall, a positive experience with a lot gained over the 3 days.

Junior Youth Club

Our Juniors have been busy becoming ‘crafty’, playing games, enjoying outside time, and cooking each week. We have split the session into two different age groups to reduce numbers in any one session and to help us make sure we have good quality sessions.

We have split the first session into school years 4, 5 and girls group members. Many of those young people enjoy group games, sports, creating special craft items to take home as well as board games, free time, performance space and talent competitions.

Junior youth club allows young people to mix and widen their immediate social networks. We see many young people attend on their own and they may go to school outside of Prudhoe. These sessions are a means for them to make friendships within their community.

This group encourages young people to find new interests and hobbies as well as gain new skills, this includes cooking, washing dishes and general practical life skills that will help them in the future.

Our second Junior Youth Club session is for school years 6, 7 and 8. This session is aimed more at older young people, and we plan sessions with these young people to ensure they take part in activities that interest them. Many of the young people attending this session have worked with PYP for the past two years and this helps us develop trust between the young people and the youth workers. We support them to grow and help them reach their full potential.

Senior Youth Club

Senior Youth Club is held on a Tuesday in the Methodist Church basement room for young people in school year 8 or above. The session offers a relaxed informal environment where young people can gain access to the pool table, sofas, free Gregg’s food, and a small kitchen.

Seniors has been well attended this year with numbers steadily growing. Seniors is now held once a month in the Family Hub. This is to allow young people to cook from scratch, these are vital life skills we support them to learn. These sessions explore young people’s relationship with food and we have encouraged them to make healthy choices by providing fruit most weeks. At the Family Hub we use the technology there to take part in group quizzes and interactive games.

During young people's teenage years, they come across many issues including sexual health, alcohol and drugs, bullying, friendship problems, relationship issues and family issues. We use these sessions to support young people with the information and the advice they need to make informed choices. This year we have delivered sexual health sessions, drug and alcohol session with Sorted and sessions around positive relationships with the Northumberland Domestic Abuse Service.

West Wylam Youth Club

West Wylam Youth Club has been part of our regular sessions for 2 years now. The area that is West Wylam has more deprivation and economic issues than other parts of Prudhoe. This club was set up as we identified a need to provide activities for the young people who do not currently access our provision in the centre of the town. We find that there is a divide within the town, we want to be able to support young people to access all sessions.

We provide food at these sessions to help address food poverty. We provide a basket of essentials and toiletries such as water bottles, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and sanitary products to enable young people to access items that they may not have at home.

We have now created two sessions a week to meet the current demand as our numbers have increased this year.

We can use the field next to the building, thanks to Adderlane School, and this has allowed us to play outside. We have enjoyed sports and group games. We have seen an increase in young people from West Wylam attending our other youth clubs in the centre of town. This shows us that we have had some success in breaking down the barriers between different parts of the Prudhoe.

Girls Group

Girls Group runs from the Parish Hall on a Wednesday. A group of young women come together to take part in supportive activities that empower young women to feel safe, address women's health issues, talk about self-esteem, safety and offers a place to get practical advice on all women's issues.

This year the Girls Group has been busy with attendances around 25 each week. The girls are relaxed and comfortable with each other and this space feels very safe and supported. We have been doing some work on self-image, feminine hygiene, encouraging our girls to be creative and cooking! We have also explored the issues that can present themselves during friendships and we have talked about supporting each other and staying safe.

Lads Group

Lads Group has been running weekly sessions at the Family Hub. Although a relatively small group we have a high number of young people with additional needs integrated into this session. The lads enjoy doing sports on Adderlane School playing field, cooking and playing

board games together. Because of this group young people have made new friends, have developed their communication skills and engaged in additional activities.

This year our lads have enjoyed a garden project where they improved the outdoor space at the Family Hub by doing some planting, painting and adding some sensory objects

Lads Group is a wonderful safe environment for young people to talk to trained and qualified youth workers and gain the support they need to help them deal with any extra issues that arise during their everyday lives.

Lego Club

Lego Club is now in its second year, at these sessions we support those young people who may not feel able to attend our youth club sessions or require additional support. We identify a group of six young people each half term to work with.

We use Lego as a tool to really engage those young people in conversations about their lives and any difficulties they may be having. Our skilled and trained youth workers unpick those difficulties to try and allow them to see a way past them. Giving young people the confidence and determination to work through these issues which allow them to access other sessions, have a more fulfilled life, benefit from the opportunities available to them and allow them to reach their full potential.

Last year we saw in all young people attending an increase in confidence and found that they were not so anxious as before. Young people said, ‘Each session has gone really fast and i can build whatever I want’ and ‘Lego is the best thing in the world, and everyone should come to it.’

Health Drop-In – Prudhoe Community High School

We have been running our weekly drop-in sessions at PCHS. We have had a wide variety of issues to deal with. We have supported young people with stress, anxiety, sexual health and mental health. During quieter days we take the opportunity to have a walk around in the canteen and yard to chat to other students to see how they are doing and let them know where to find support if they need it. We aim to find some funding to offer support to students at Highfield Middle School on a weekly basis in the near future.

We have supported lots of young people this year and made a real difference. This project has taught us a lot and given us greater perspective on the challenges young people face. We may not be specialists in mental health but by having a weekly drop-in session available at the local high school we have supported those who require help to access it.

The main outcome from this work has been offering a confidential, supportive, non-judgemental space where a young person can be listened to.

During these sessions we have supported young people who require immediate support from the children's crisis team. We have helped families come together to give the child the correct support and worked with schools to offer support outside of our drop-in sessions. This project is a vital part of what we do at PYP.

Summer Holiday Activities 2023

Over the summer we offered 5 weeks of activities. We offered a mixture of trips and centre-based sessions, and we wanted to make sure each child got a meal while they were with us.

We developed a partnership with Karbon Homes this year. From this we supported Karbon Homes holiday activities over Easter and the Summer holidays, which was funded by the Holiday Activities Fund.

Centre based sessions were held at different venues, Eastwood Park, The Methodist Church, and the Parish Hall. This was done to break down barriers between different areas of Prudhoe. We hoped that this would allow our sessions to be more accessible.

Each venue had different assets that we would utilise, for example we would always use the kitchen at the Parish Hall to provide young people with cookery sessions and a hot meal, Eastwood Park gave us the outside space to play games and provide sporting activities and the Methodist Church main hall gave us space to move and be sheltered from the weather. The total attendances for our centre-based sessions over the summer were 129.

We provided 5 successful trips which included Hall Hill Farm, Whickham Thorns Scout Activity Centre, Skiing at Silksworth Outdoor Ski Slope and Surfing at South Shields.

Our trips were aimed at current term time users with remaining spaces filled by new young people. We offered trips out of the area, giving young people new experiences and promoting positive time with peers and youth workers. We know that this may be the only time that they have for such an opportunity. The trips were heavily funded, and we only asked for a small contribution from parents/carers. 141 attended our trips.

We worked with 12 young people over the space of 14 sessions at Hagg Wood, exploring the issue of climate change and the environment. As well as having a great time in the woods our group of young people talked about climate change and what we could do to help.

The young people created bug hotels, took part in tree management called coppicing and made bird feeders. They had a great deal of fun in a fully natural environment. They made new friends, gained confidence and now have a better understanding about the world we live in.

Climate Action Group

We worked with 12 young people over the space of 14 sessions at Hagg Wood, exploring the issue of climate change and the environment. As well as having a great time in the woods our group of young people talked about climate change and what we could do to help. The young people created bug hotels, took part in tree management called coppicing and made bird feeders. They had a great deal of fun in a fully natural environment. They made new friends, gained confidence and now have a better understanding about the world we live in.

The group worked hard on a climate action presentation which they went on to deliver in-front of young people from Highfield Middle School and Ovingham Middle School. They shared a very important message about what each of us can do to help protect the environment. They devised 2 activities for young people to take part in and all 140 young people made a bird feeder and planted an acorn to grow an oak tree. The group felt it was important to allow young people to take something home with them.

The young people involved in this project were really engaged throughout, they enjoyed being in the woods and made new friends. By the end of the project all the young people felt more confident about the subject and were beaming with pride after speaking in front of other young people.

We feel the group will continue to spread their message.

Young people said ‘It was fun. We learnt how to communicate with other year groups and I feel more confident when presenting to others.’

‘It went well because everyone enjoyed it. Lots of other young people learnt about climate change.’

Art Club

We delivered a series of arts sessions during school holidays. We planned art activities and as the weeks progressed, we worked on a particular piece of art together which was then displayed in the Library for the Arts Trail. We had other games and activities available during these sessions.

We ran sessions from the Parish Hall and Methodist Church for this Art Project, sessions ran mainly in the holidays, but the last few sessions ran in term time to allow us to complete the project. We had 63 young people engage in the project, all the young people involved really enjoyed the sessions.

Community Events and Project Work

PYP is an active member of Tynedale Youth Forum, and we took part in a joint residential with other youth projects from the West of Northumberland. We took six young people to Whithaugh Park where young people took part in a variety of challenging activities including zip wire, canoeing, mountain biking and archery. These young people socialised with young people from different projects. We would like to thank the Tynedale Youth Forum for inviting us!

PYP produced a piece of artwork for the arts trail. It was a fantastic piece of artwork to go on public display produced by young people for the whole community. Thank you to Prudhoe Community Partnership for the opportunity to get involved.

We attended Music By The Riverside, an event organised by Prudhoe Community Partnership. We ran craft activities for children and young people at the event.

PYP worked with Tyne Valley Canoe Club to provide a water safety and canoeing session for young people. Water safety is vital in a town that has seen real tragedy in recent times. It gave the young people the opportunity to try something new and we will work with Tyne Valley Canoe Club in the future to continue to raise awareness.

We gave awards to 6 young people for their outstanding work over the past year. Each received a certificate and gift card. We took these young people to Haltwhistle Outdoor Swimming Pool and joined other youth projects from the west of Northumberland where they received their awards, had some pool time and a meal.

PYP continues offering support to Happy Faces by employing 4 members of staff on their behalf. We train, supervise and support these members of staff to ensure they deliver high quality youth work in Happy Faces sessions.

Christmas Activities

The lead up to Christmas we organised some trips with a total of 67 attendances and over 56 young people attending trips before we broke up for the Christmas holidays. It was great to see young people having fun, challenging themselves on the ice or on the climbing rope courses and offering a nice treat for some young people to the Cinema. It was a lovely way to end the year for young people from Senior’s, Junior’s and West Wylam Youth Club.

During Christmas 2023 we worked with Angie Scott's Christmas Appeal, this for the second year. We identified 4 families that needed extra support this Christmas. We delivered presents to families to ensure that children from Prudhoe received a gift on Christmas day 2023.

Financial Review

PYP received grants from many different funders, these include Prudhoe Town Council, Sir James Knott Trust, Community Foundation High Sheriff Award, Community Foundation - Reeds Grassroots, Community Foundation - Readman Family Grassroots, Garfield Weston Foundation, Hadrian Trust, National Lottery Foundation Awards for All, Northumberland Police, Shears Foundation, The Barbour Foundation, The Joicey Trust, TK Maxx Foundation, Karbon Homes

PYP benefited from small grants and fundraising efforts. We would like to thank the people who play the Northumberland Lottery, Queen Hall Key Project, Councillor Angie Scott’s Christmas Appeal, Councillor Gordon Stewart’s Donation.

In the financial year April 2023 to March 2024 income totalled £85,970, of which £74,160 is restricted funding and £11,810 is unrestricted. Expenditure was mainly staffing costs £63,975, room hire £5,019, activities/resources £3,960 and trips/residential holidays £11,131, Other cost £918 and finally bank charges of £72 totalling £85,075.

There was a balance of £80,889 at the year end, of which £ 61,834 is restricted funds for projects and £19,055 is unrestricted funds.

Assets

PYP does not yet have any fixed assets but holds assets in cash at the year end for future activities.

Plans for Future Periods

PYP has been consistent this year and continues to provide its core youth clubs to meet local need. Each youth club or group is important to young people. We wish to continue each of these projects and will seek funding to do so.

PYP will continue to plan trips and off-site activities with young people to ensure we address their hobbies and interests.

Risk Review

PYP has reviewed all policies including safeguarding, staff and volunteers have completed safeguarding training annually and one first aider is always on site of any organised activity. We have reviewed the risk assessments for each building to ensure we reduce the risks during our centre based sessions. We have consent forms from parents/carers, off site visits are risk assessed and emergency contacts are available for each trip/residential. These measures reduce the risks in working with young people.

The main risk is attracting sufficient long term funding for staff and activities. To resolve this the trustees and staff will aim to source funding that is awarded for a duration of 3 years and larger grants where possible.

Governing Documents

PYP became a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) established on 9th September 2019. The charity submits annual accounts to the charity commission that have been independently audited.

Structure, Governance and Management

PYP is governed by the trustees who are elected by current trustees. There may be up to 10 trustees and two Prudhoe Town Council representatives who are also Trustees. Trustees meet bi- monthly.

Since the AGM in November 2023 Cllr Christopher Barrett has stepped down as a trustee and we have welcomed Stuart John Rutherford-Orrock to the board of trustees.

Related Parties

PYP receives funding from Prudhoe Town Council. Prudhoe Town Council has appointed two Councillors as representatives.

Accountants and external examiner

Digital Accounting was appointed independent examiner at the 2023 Annual General Meeting.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (issued in March 2005) and in accordance with the special provisions of Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small entities.

Approved by the trustees on 15[th] October 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Don Hutton (Chair)

Jessica Hosking (Treasurer)

I CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES PRUWE YOLrTh p E¢T 118523 Recei tsandpa ments accounts CC16a Forth¢ period To t1Jr￿2￿l. ?11031202 Section A Receipts and payments Ur.rèstricLé fund$ EndowtThEnt fvnds fvTrdts Total fvndB La6¢y￿r fotttèrWr•¥lt bjthpiip4l￿É thEn?&￿st£ A1 ReGeipts C¢trIr￿￿ll1.F￿rtd￿l￿.￿.Ce Opai-Lrtt PnxnCÈTtrI￿ c￿c41 TrLiI 20.OQD 3QOOO •ooo 9gf2 Fcwdauon li" 1r￿0 PrthE vurv￿lly￿f[Sh1Dlk•￿ll¢M PKCtsYi 14067 l CDmrThbity Grari C&JD Fur. NCC.401 vibeg 6D tC4Dwunry F￿r￿alitrt. ?eed3fyè5&-yth5 CryTmun YW2 FoJn4￿n Tru41 N￿.ty￿1 FcJndElw AM¥dS￿￿Jr .Umtrprf￿￿ ¥lci. 5f4t¥ FMaalpJn 1.727 736F 461 s.￿0 IOOD iooo Fa￿5 Cc.¥ •2 3392 ¥$& 502 Sub tofal{GTO&S fc¥AR? 741 A2As9etMI inyesbnont 8 lseetabl¢l. Sub tot•1 Total ￿lpts 74.9 5.970 A3P marts Hre 63.975 50.639 5,002 9.B¥Z l).DS1 5,ff g ID.42J 315 72 79.101 Sub tot•1 47 A4 Assèt atwj itwethent {see Coryprf$r E￿￿￿t &￿t0 Total 6.785 783 1S.lJ7S 79,801 Net gfre¢&ptsi(paym•ntsJ ASTwansf8Ts b8tweem funds A8Ca$h fur￿ kst yearend Cash funds yEar eJ¥d 7•*4 19 •1 79.

Section 8 Statemant of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Vnr•3tyKtod funds Restrlcled fvnd5 EndowThent lunds Bl Ca$h lurvjs l￿DEs 1lJJ4 Tolal¢ash fonclJ 61,834 fut f￿nd￿ nd Iktsils B2 Oihermonelyasspts Detsils cost10p￿￿1) CurnI￿U onal BY lnvg81rnent￿Ots Curwl VFI B4 Alsèts retslnod forth8 charity$ ow Fulld knDurt*kn Y1kn￿d Jjeiails B5 LU7blilles Date of rovBI

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Indepettdeni Examiner's Report Roport to the tru5tee&l mernbers of I Prudh)e Youth Prci On a¢¢ounts forthe year ,, 31 March 2024 •nd8d I I Charlty no ' 1185239 lrfanyl Set on pgM I I report to the trustee5 on my examination olthe accounts of the above tharity ftr TnJ8n foTts yearended 31103 12024 R•spcnsibllllles and AS the ehanty Intstees of the Trust. you are ￿SpO￿l￿e for the p￿paratIOn ba$is of r¢port of the accounts in accordance with the requirement5 of the Chariti98 Act 2011 llheALYI. I report in res¢ect of my examinab"¢)n of the Tru5t'$ accounts carried out under sedion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my exarnination, I have folluwed Ihe applicab￿ Directions gwen by the Charrty Commission under section 14515Xbl of Ihe A(a. I have com￿eted my exafflinati(￿. I Confi￿ that no mèrial rnattets have Jme to my attentson in rJ)nnection with the examination ￿1￿) give5 me cause to telieve that in, any material respect. aco)untirMJ retords ￿re not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or Ihe acuxJnts do not accord wth th8 accountiThJ r8¢ord$ Ind•p•nd•nt •xaminaV8 8tat•mgnt I have no c4)nc8m8 aNI hav8 come across no other matters sn connection wth the examination to vthich attthon 5houkY be drawn in ord8rtrJ enab FxoFer un¢kntsnding of the accounts lo ￿ ￿aCk￿d. Signod: 01.07 24 Name: Karen Sadditvjton. DvJrtal A(￿nta R•lev8nt proh8sional quallfieation($l or body | ICAEW Irf any): Addre8•.' Rts)m 2.05. SpgichdL% Centre. 58 Front Str￿, Pn￿jhOe. NorthEThTrberland NE42 &AA IER Octob•r 2018

Sgetion B Disclosure Only com￿ete li ihè exaffltn8r needs to nIgh1￿m matters cif ￿n￿MIse8 CC32. Independent examination of ¢hanty accwnls". directions and guidance for examineTB). Give here brfef datalls of any Item8 th•t th• examiner wlshes to dis¢lo8&. IER October 2018