Welcome to our Spring Newsletter!
Find out about some of the things that have been happening since February both from within the partnership and from the team.
Plus lots of upcoming opportunities too!
Key points
- Updates from Lisa & Jo
- Partnership Updates & Celebrations – Windmill Youth Day, Sound Futures, Green Market Place
- Whole Partnership Gatherings
- Baton of Hope Young Volunteers
Lisa's Update
I write this looking out over the lawn at Parkfield House, reflecting on the last few months and feeling immensely grateful to be a part of the VCSE sector in Torbay. It’s not always easy, but it is rewarding. Here is a round up of some of the key highlights since February.
The Restructure Subgroup continued to meet until April, as planned. In these meetings the partners continued to develop their thinking around how we can further embed young people’s voices into the structure of the partnership as well as the function of the steering group and impact groups. The result of these deep conversations is to present an idea to the Steering Group at the next meeting on the 21st May. More on this as it develops, but if you want to know more in the meantime, do reach out lisamoney@torbaycdt.org.uk.
I attended the Kings Ash partnership meeting at the end of March. As ever, this proved an invaluable space to make connections and join some dots. Fruitful conversations with Exeter University research partners, neighbourhood watch and volunteer youth workers have followed with many of these people joining in with Impact Group conversations. Having these voices at the table is extending our reach as a partnership and strengthening our ability to make the changes young people want to see.
Child Friendly Torbay has moved into the final part of its discovery phase. This ambitious project is still in the early chapters, and I’ve been working hard to make sure VCSE partners (and their vast knowledge, skills and expertise) are part of the conversation from the off. This has meant that a broader range of young people have had their say – particular thanks to the Foyer, Windmill Centre, Sound Communities, Proud2Be and Play Torbay for hosting specific activities. The challenge now is to build on this, weaving children, young people and the VCSE into the very fabric of decision making. Amplifying youth voice was highlighted as a key purpose for this partnership – this is one vessel we can use to do just that.
This is just a snapshot. Jo and I will be publishing monthly blogs on our website so you can see more of what we’ve been up to, but for now, if you want to know more about any of the above, or anything else, do drop me a line!
Jo's Update
It feels like spring has been full of busy and productive connections, with seeds of collaborative ideas being sown and nurtured. It’s been great to share ideas and support across sectors, with work being done to explore for example a collaborative funding bid with partners at People’s Parkfield and the Youth Justice Service; conversations with the LA’s Culture and Heritage team about involving young people in their heritage strategy, and the new Safer Communities lead meeting with one of our Youth Council members who had important insight to share about young people feeling increasingly unsafe on their streets.
We’ve been busy with introductions, making sure people are connected across the Bay so that new projects can grow where there are gaps, for example increasing youth work in Brixham in response to the Town Council reaching out to us.
Across the impact groups we’re busy working on potential funding bids for collaborative work: The Health Lottery Fund for the Reducing Stress and Anxiety ; Joseph Rowntree for Environment; Reaching Communities for Places to Hang Out; the Weavers Benevolent Fund for Safer Streets. And a potential schools transport project with Access for All (in very early stages).
Looking forward to turning all of these ideas, energy and collective expertise into some powerful funding bids over the coming weeks – let’s see how we get on.
Whole Partnership Gatherings
On Tuesday 4 March, we held our first informal, whole partnership gathering and we think it’s safe to say it was a success! So many rich conversations and lots of connections (and re-connections) made 💫. Thank you to all the partners who turned up. We had representatives from 15 different organisations!
People found this event useful because…
‘got to talk to some cool people’
‘It was so good meet people face to face and find out in more details what other agencies do and discuss common aims/challenges.’
‘It was good to have informal conversations as well as connect and reconnect with people’
‘Networking, hearing what other professionals do. Joining together the dots and also learning from others about the local history and demographics.’
If you missed this one, don’t worry, the next one is fast approaching – join us at Parkfield House on Tuesday 3rd June 3 – 6pm.
We’ve taken feedback and this gathering will include time for partners to tell everyone a bit about their organisation. This doesn’t need to be formal or overly long. It would be useful to hear:
- who you are and what you do
- the age group(s) you work with
- where in the bay you deliver your work
for example: I’m Lisa, I run SnacksForAll, a small CiC making sure that people working in VCSE sector have nibbles throughout the day. We work with all age groups across Torbay.
Feel free to embellish this in any way – your passion, your dreams – but the basic format should help us all to know the who, what and where.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Windmill Easter Day
Lisa and Rebekah had the great privilege and joy of going to the Windmill Centre’s Easter Youth Day back in April. It was so lovely, and if anybody ever needs to see what good quality relationships with young people through youth work looks like it was there in absolute spades. It was a pleasure to be there, it was lovely to see the team do what they do so well, and we thank them for inviting us. It warmed our hearts.
Play Torbay Green Marketplace
A reminder for you about the upcoming Play Torbay Green Marketplace event on Saturday 7th June from 11am. Please contact Tanny (if you haven’t already) if you have something wonderful to add to the event – a stall, an activity, some young people, all welcome.
tanny@playtorbay.org.uk
Sound Futures
Sound Futures, the Creative Employability course, is BACK.
If you are, or you know, 16-24s in the Bay who aren’t currently in Education, Employment or Training, then this is a great opportunity, look no further.
10 weeks. 1 project. Loads of fun. Groups starting in MAY & JUNE 2025.
In a small group, Sound Futures helps young people to identify their strengths & values to then design and deliver a creative project of their choice. This will create bags of real-world evidence of skills in action which can support any applications, open doors, and boost self confidence!
In 1:1 sessions with Sound Futures experts, folks explore foundations and aspirations and deep dive into skills and areas that interest them!
There’s much more to discover in the Sound Futures world, so check out the round up of last year’s projects here.
If this sounds good to you, let us know you’re interested in taking part today by filling this in.
Baton of Hope Young Volunteers
The Baton of Hope is a national initiative raising awareness and combating stigma around the topic of suicide. The baton will be carried across the UK, and Torbay will host a one-day leg of the tour on Tuesday 30 September starting from 7.30am.
The Baton of Hope Torbay is looking for your support.
- We already have over 100 Baton Bearers, but we also need over 100 volunteers for its safe delivery across the three towns.
Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities
(Please note those under 18 will need to be accompanied by an adult.)
- Pre Baton Marshalls
- Stern (Rear) Baton Marshal
- Deputy walk leaders
- Route Marshals
- Event Marshals
This is an amazing opportunity to show the rest of the country that we stand together in Torbay to support the need for more action to prevent suicide in our Bay and across the UK.
Find more information about the roles here.
To find out more about becoming a volunteer, email batonofhope@torbay.gov.uk or call 01803 446022.
