Grant to Aldbourne Youth Council (360G-WCF-A601933)

Quoting directly from our constitution: "The objects of [AYC] are to advance in life and help young people in Aldbourne Parish and surrounding villages through: (1) The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interests of social welfare designed to improve their conditions of life. (2) Providing support and activities that develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent mature and responsible individuals." The existence of AYC, and participation in its activities by a significant number of local young people, contributes directly to building a strong community. This is strengthened by encouraging the young people to join in community activities, both as participants, e.g. the annual Scarecrow Trail, and as organisers, e.g. an Easter Egg Hunt and a 'WhoDunnit' Murder Mystery Map. In recent years, less so in 2020 because of Covid, AYC has organised vacation programmes of sporting activities for young people. These benefit the individuals' physical and mental well-being, develop teamwork and leadership life skills, and contribute to community spirit. Our proposed project, described later, would continue those programmes and benefits. It is not always easy to differentiate life skills and employability skills. With help from AYC our young people have: - Gained Duke of Edinburgh awards and acquired many and varied skills in the process - Received food safety in catering (QCF) Certificate levels 1 and 2, which are an entrée to employment in catering and hospitality, and useful domestically too. - Put those skills to use as occasional part-time (paid) workers in our internal café / tuck shop, thereby gaining work experience. - Had training in interview skills. - Accessed our IT resources to assist completion of homework assignments, especially those who have little or no IT access at home. Our premises, known as Community Junction, help another section of the community too. Many of our volunteers are single and elderly, and one of the reasons why they volunteer to help in our charity shop is that it provides social contact which would otherwise be missing from much of their life. They socialise among themselves, with the customers of the charity shop and café, and when Covid permits, with others who simply drop in for a chat. We believe this contributes to the mental well-being of all concerned.