F O CUS NOW Inspiring people, Changing communities
Xrunner challenge with Matt & Joe An Interview with Dan Kent Blast from the past Abbie’s Story
ISSUE 3 Autumn 2014 www.focus-charity.co.uk
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CONTRIBUTORS Editor: Joe Roughton Thank you to: Dan Kent Abbie Grace Mambou Amina Adnan Yasin Shabbaz Addict Dance Studios Get in touch Find us at: Focus Charity 73 Church Gate Leicester LE1 3AN Phone us: 0116 251 0369 Email us: admin@focus-charity.co.uk Visit our website: www.focus-charity.co.uk Registered Charity No. 1068467
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Welcome to the 3rd edition of FocusNow. Our staff, volunteer students and young volunteers have been working hard to bring you our magazine throughout this year and this edition is another great example of young people’s commitment and their stories they wanted to share. I would also like to say a special thanks to Grace Mambou, who is a student on placement with us from France who has been a great asset to our organisation. We wish you all the best for your bright future and we hope you pop back for a visit. Joe Roughton Projects’ Manager
From the
Director’s
chair
I’ve reached a major milestone in my personal and professional life. After 19 years at FOCUS working with young people, mostly in their teens, I have now become a parent to a teenager. My eldest son has turned 13 and its come as something of a shock to me. I thought I would be one of those enlightened, laid-back parents who understand and nurture their kids through their teens – it turns out that I’m not. But at least I can finally empathise with the plight of the parents of young people that FOCUS works with. Although there was no Kevin-theTeenager moment (a sudden and brutal change from irritating child to moody teenager on his 13th birthday), there’s definitely been a paradigm shift in our relationship recently. I have always enjoyed working with young people and found that trust, mutual respect and an appreciation of one another’s interests have been relatively easy to develop and maintain. Do I have that same relationship with my own son? Ha, RAFL, LOL, etc. No, I do not. As he is slowly eradicating all consonants from his communications with me and replacing them with a monotone mumble that’s occasionally punctuated by something that sounds like “k’n’ell, dad!”, so I am becoming my own father! Every shrug of his shoulders, every sniff or grunting noise, every “Wot!”, turns my hair greyer, my blood-pressure higher and sends me to the bathroom to swear at the wall.
Of course, it’s not all inter-generational war in our house. We do share a love of watching and playing football together – an activity that requires little meaningful communication other than and occasional “On me head, son”, followed by, “Classic 50-pence-head!” – and he has also inherited my irritating and immature use of sarcasm whenever the opportunity arises. There are glimmers in him of the adult he will one day become – and I admire and enjoy that. There are conversations / debates / arguments in which he expresses his opinions with passion and intelligence – and that excites me. And we do find time to laugh together, rather than at one another – rare but priceless moments. All of this serves to remind me that adolescence is not easy – not that I ever thought it was - and that being a parent of someone battling through it is just as hard. I can only hope (because he’ll never tell me himself) that the teachers, sports coaches, and other adults that work with my son appreciate what he’s striving to become and how unintentionally difficult I am making it for him. Parents of teenagers everywhere, I salute you. And as my mum always tells me, “It’s the first 30 years that are the hardest. After that you just give in.”
click here
By Grace Mambou.
The Album
With Dan Kent.
Good Spark
Interview
Download
Dan is a very talented young person who has been volunteering with Focus for several years. He’s just released an album so we wanted to catch up with him and find out a little bit more about his life and just get to know him better. Hi Dan, I’m Grace. I’m a French student doing my placement at Focus. Thank you for taking time out to join me today. Grace: “How did you get involved with Focus?” Dan: “I got involved with focus when I was at crown Hills College. There was a building, like a help center called the LEC (Learning Education Centre). There were people who would help you out with your work if you were struggling, or people with issues with family or at home and also run after school clubs. And I think one of the people there passed on my information to focus. And from that I then got invited on to residential projects. I was initially a little bit like, I don’t really know much about the charity, but I went online and read up about them and decided to go along and see what it is about. And I really enjoyed myself; it was really good.” Grace: “And how long have you been involved with Focus?” Dan: “Since I was 14 or 15 so, I guess 6 or 7 years now.” Grace:“What motivated you to be involved with focus?” Dan: “Well, I was involved as a participant for about 2 years, maybe 3 years. But I went on all kinds of residential camps; it was brilliant. I must gone on 7 or 8 residentials just as a participant and each time I was gaining more and more confidence and feeling better about myself, you know be able to work in team because initially before I got involved, I was really like… reserved and I didn’t like talking to people. After I have been involved for a while as a participant and I got to know people, I really enjoyed my time with Focus with which I wanted to get involved and give something back by helping other young people in the same way I have been helped. So that’s why I carry on through the Youth Action Team and volunteering as an actual volunteer.”
Dan: “Yeah, absolutely. Through the Youth Action Team I got the V50 certificate, which shows that you have done a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer work. I’ve also got involved with the Vinvolved and I got to go on cool trips, like to one in London, to this big volunteer conference. And I met lots of different friends there. And I was able to speak in public with quite a lot of people, which I wouldn’t feel I was able to do before. And yes, I think the main benefits were gaining positive stuff for my CV so it makes me more employable and making friends and building my self-esteem and confidence.” Grace: “Oh that’s really great. What is your best memory in Focus?” Dan: “Oh, hum.. wow.. I don’t know whether it is the best moment cause I got so many, I can’t remember but what sticks out for me was when I turned up to one of the residential with my ukulele, it’s not like a very popular
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Grace: “Okay, so you did have some benefits from working with Focus?”
instrument, not the kind that you play at school and have people like wow you play ukulele (laugh..) like, that never happens. And so, I turned up and I just started playing and another person brought one, one of the volunteer and we just started jamming and it’s was brilliant and I was like oh wow these are my people, this is fantastic. But other than that, just meeting people that I can get on with, you know, feeling like an equal member of the team, feeling respected and included as part of a group.” Grace: “You are going to university this year, which university are you going to and what are you going to study?” Dan: “De Montfort University, studying English language and literature.” Grace: “Do you know what kind of work you want to do after that?” Dan: “Hum, I’m not entirely sure, but the thing I’m looking at more seriously at the minute is teaching. Either primary or private school teaching I think, it’s what I want to do, I think I’d enjoy that.” Grace: “okay, that’s interesting. You have recently release a music album, congratulations, can you describe to me your style of music?” Dan: “I guess my music is alternative, acoustic, experimental, singing effects, strange folky music, I guess, will be how I describe that.” Grace: “Okay, Wow, and what is the name of your album?” Dan: “Good Spark.” Grace: “And if I want a copy, where can I find one?” Dan: “http://dankentcontent.bandcamp.com/” Grace: “More generally, what are your ambitions in life, and how are you going to achieve them?” Dan: “(Laugh !!) that’s a fantastic question..” Grace: “(laugh..) you can take a second to think about it.” Dan: “What do I want to do with the rest of my life and how I am going to do it… wow.. hm well, for now from a career perspective at the minute, teaching. That what make most sense to me at the minute, I don’t know my mind in the future. You can ask these questions in a year it’s might be completely different. But other than that, in my spare time, I’m going to continue to do music and making comic book, even when I become a teacher I will carry on with things like that. But long term throughout my life, I just want somewhere safe to live, I’m not really bothered about earning a lot of money, I don’t really mind. Whenever I get too much stuff in my room I just end up selling a bunch of stuff, I don’t like having lot of stuff. It’s sound really Hippie, but I just hope my life has a decent amount of just peace and love and happiness. That’s what I want out of my life.” Grace: “That is deep. Okay, thank you so much Dan for this moment. It’s was very interesting.” Dan: “Fantastic!”
Download Dan’s album ‘Good Spark’ and his other great albums today by heading to
http://dankentcontent.bandcamp.com/
Abbie’s Story I joined Focus Charity in 2008. At that time I had a really low self-esteem and I struggled with school. Although I hadn’t told anyone about this at the time, at the age of 14 I knew that I was in the wrong body; I was a female trapped in a male body. The confusion and guilt this caused me meant that I felt very alone. I was on a self-destructive path of drugs alcohol and selfharming. During the course of volunteering with Focus Charity for 4 years, I really came out of my shell. With the support of the people I met there I was able to make the decision to begin living as a woman. I believe volunteering has had a massive impact on my confidence and with out it I doubt I would be where I am now, which is actually going through the change. It’s not been easy though and it has caused a breakdown in relationships with my family. I have made some amazing long lasting friendships through meeting new people at Focus Charity. Volunteering at Focus Charity keeps me busy, keeps my mind from negative thoughts and gives me something really positive and interesting to do. Focus Charity have been really supportive of my gender choices too. Not only have they listened to me and enabled me to have ‘deep’ conversations that have helped to build my personality. They’ve also helped with really practical stuff, like driving me to the gender clinic in Nottingham. All in all Focus Charity has helped me gain my confidence, gain a lot of life experience, and have supported me emotionally and mentally through changes in my life. Now, I can see the future as bright as it really is. And I’m on my way to feel as confident as possible in my new body. I would recommend volunteering to anyone who’s depressed. If it can bring me out of depression then it can help others too.
Blast from the past This editions ‘Blast from the past’ comes from our Winter 94/95 newsletter. With our 25th Anniversary this year, I thought it suitable to refer back to our anniversary of gaining charity status.
An interview with
In the last season of Britain’s got talent, you probably remember one group: Addict initiative. Addict Initiative are an unforgettable dance company from Addict Dance Studios, who bring together commercial dance and theatrical story telling. This blend of powerful commercial dancing and thought provoking narratives has had audiences from all over Britain standing on their feet clapping, shouting and gasping alike. This group is dynamic, current and enjoys performing stories that have a dark twist, which creates world class entertainment performed talented dancers who proudly showcase their outstanding technical abilities. Their nickname in BGT was ‘The refreshingly evil’ because of their dark twist stories dance choreographies. This 26 young people dynamic dance group is so good, and ‘really, really stunning’ according to the Britain’s got talent’s judge, David Williams, that they hit the final. We found out that we were neighbours on Church Gate. So we wanted to know a little bit more about them. We talked with the Co-Director and dance teacher at Addict Dance studio, Cheryl Wimperis. Amina: How long has the Addict Initiative been dancing as a group? Cheryl: Addict initiative from Britain got talent? Because we have so many different groups, a couple of years. Because they were a couple of groups put together. They know each other very well. They have all worked in lots of different groups and they literally trained side by side. And then they were all put together in a nice big group for Britain’s got talent, they know each other, work with each other for years... They really know each other very well. I can’t really put a date on it.
Cheryl: How did it start? Every Sunday, we have competitions; we have training for competition groups. And they end like selecting people from the community. It’s various different groups like ADDICT, INFLUENCE which is a girl group, and we just thought why not? We have done Got to dance on TV, we’ve done all of the Midlands competitions and we were just like why not put them in BGT, it was just the next kind of thing to do, why not, why not try it! And then we applied, actually BGT approached us. They found us somewhere and then asked if we would like to do the competition so we took the chance and we did the auditions. Grace: And what was your main difficulty in this challenge? Cheryl: Probably… I remember, cause we got so far, we didn’t expect to get to the finals. We were just like, let’s do it, it’s a good experience for the community and the rest of it. And we got to the semis and that was amazing. And then when we got through to the final, we were like… We have not got a piece prepared… So we literally had a week to put together a piece. And all the dancers, they worked solidly upstairs and did a piece in two days. And that’s brilliant, the piece
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Grace: You were fantastic on BTG, Great job. How did you get to that point?
that they did on the TV, they did it in two days. Amina: How do you recruit your dancers? Cheryl: We audition them. We have a big network now like on Facebook and word-of-mouth, because we do all of these competitions. People who watch competitions see us, and they like us, so we have a good reputation in the midlands. And we hold auditions, maybe once or twice a year. It’s a gruelling process. There are lots of people in the room … until we get the group we want. Yeah, it’s an audition process. Grace: Why did you choose to dance on dark twist stories? Cheryl: It’s just something new, isn’t it? Something different. They’ve had diverse show before, but it was always just dance. And the judges was saying we don’t want to see just dance, we want to see something new, we want a narrative. And this is a narrative that, I think, a lot of people can connect to, you know, it’s fairytails, which you know, but it’s that mystery and darkness which everybody always likes. It’s what the audience want. Amina: On your website, what do you mean by “ Dance enables you to find yourself and to loose yourself at the same time”? Cheryl: That’s just a quote, that’s not one of our quotes. That’s a quote from a famous dancer, it’s that understanding that when you dance you kind of forget all of your worries, don’t you? When you are dancing your just going to your own little world, you forget about your everyday things and your worries if you’ve got any or your troubles. It’s almost therapy, isn’t it? It makes you feel good and I think in feeling good, you are finding yourself. It’s that moment of just like everything is fine... That’s what that phrase mean. Amina: What does Addict bring to the community? Cheryl: Because we do here so much, we do things for the community who want to dance just for form, we do things for people who want to be dancers professionally, we do things for kids, we do things for mums who want to get fit. I think we inspire, you know, because we’re really inspiring those who want to train very very well. Hopefully helping them to get jobs at the end of the day. We’re also inspiring the general community just to have fun and enjoy themselves, and meet people get to know people. Grace: What kind of advice can you give to a young people who really wants to succeed in a dance career? Cheryl: WORK! WORK! WORK! You’ve got to eat, breath, and sleep DANCE. There is no other option. Never give up. Dance is such a hard industry and the reality of the job is very hard but it’s equally as rewarding. And I think if you put the effort in with a professional head, you’ll get the results. Definitely. Grace: Is there anything else you would like to add about Addict? Cheryl: It’s a lovely place; I think it’s a special place here. Everybody that comes here always feels really part of something. They really enjoyed themselves. And I think that’s really important for the community. Sense of belonging, that is what we try to encourage here. We offer so much; I would like the people to know about that. If you’re a child and you just want to do dance for fun, we have this opportunity every Saturday. If you want to train properly, professionally … or if you just want to come and have some fun classes with no commitment, you can come here on the evenings. I want people to know that there is a place for them to come. Thank you so much for spending time with us and we wish you all the best for Addict Initiative. If there are any budding dancers out there who would love to get involved at Addict Dance Studios, you can find them on 46-48 Church Gate, Leicester, LE1 4AJ. You can also call them on 0116 319 2490.
Explore Leadership Summer Residential Our 6th Explore Leadership team has begun it’s training, starting with the residential training programme at Whitemoor Lakes back in July. We had 10 participants training as young leaders, supported by 2 peer mentors and a team of staff and volunteers. The week was packed full of activities, all tailored to develop certain transferable skills and knowledge for young people to use when they each run their own local community project back in Leicester. Some of the social activities we took part in during the week, to further develop confidence, build relationships and overcoming any challenges were an assault course, a problem solving challenge course as well as raft building. Put in to two teams, our young leaders (with the support of staff and volunteers) competed to build the best raft; constructed with barrels, wood logs and rope. Whilst one team seemed to have a good grasp of what they were building, the other team took their time and went about it in a different way. Both rafts were constructed in different ways and whilst one of them floated with their crew and were able to paddle around the lake, the other group dragged their raft in to the water, prepared themselves for a paddling adventure, jumped on to their construction and quickly got soaked as their raft broken down all around them. This activity was a great learning experience for all our young leaders and also gave us so many laughs and memories to take back with us. Since being back from the residential, our young leaders have already begun creatively mind mapping their ideas as well as inspiring and recruiting other young people to be involved in their community project. Some of the project ideas that seem to be moving forward are to run a creative arts workshop for children during Leicester Day (on Sunday 24th August at Leicester Market), a charity car washing project, a loom bands project with children in their local area. Keep your eyes open over the next few weeks to see young people doing inspiring, creative and fun stuff in their community to create a positive impact and do something great.
The Xcrutiating, Xciting, Xillerating XRunner Challenge. Our fundraising adventures. By Matt Lilley On Saturday 21st June I set off, nervously it has to be said, to the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. It was the day of the X-Runner assault course, the event I’d been training for, the big fundraiser, a major personal challenge. To say that I was well prepared for this event is slightly overstating things. Earlier in the year Joe and I had decided that we should get ourselves fully fit and we established the FOCUS Thursday Lunchtime Running Club. It had been sometime since I was at my fighting weight; in fact I don’t think I’d run more than 50 yards for at least 10 years. So, we enthusiastically donned our pristine shorts and trainers, stretched our pasty-white legs, nodded at one another for reassurance and set off. We bounded along the street towards Abbey Park agreeing that one lap should suffice for our first trip out. 200 yards later and still someway short of the entrance to the park we were in trouble. My calf muscle had gone into spasm and Joe’s lungs were making a disturbing whistling noise. We had a nice walk back from the park though.
Too fast, we’ve started too fast. The adrenalin was pumping, we were overtaking people and we had the leaders in our sights. The first 400 metres involved a series of short, steep hills, punctuated by double hay-bale hurdles. Our idiotic opening pace was taking its toll. Luckily this part of the course came to an end. Unfortunately we were then faced with a 100 metre swim through the stinking, weed-infested, Weils Disease-laden lake. My efficient breast-stroke quickly descended into a weird double-armed doggy-paddle. I was struggling, but unlike many of those around me, I resisted the urge to call for assistance from the rescue boats that patrolled us.
Injury and over-ambition became a theme of our preparations and the ‘Running Club’ was a very short-lived (actually just a one-off) activity. Such was my own lack of fitness that I had to spend some time on the physio’s table being pummelled and electrocuted! And I’m not sure whether Joe’s trainers saw the light of day again before the big day. The swim separated the men from the boys and Joe and I from Tom and Clive. We agreed that slowly but surely was When we met up with our fellow our best bet of, not just success, but also survival. Settling runners - my mate Tom, who was into a gentle pace we made our way around the course and, also raising money for FOCUS, to our surprise, we actually started to enjoy the torture. Run his mate Clive, who was running followed swim, scramble followed climb, until collapse followed for the fun of it, and about sprint finish. 1,000 other fools – we were not brimming with confidence. We ended in 140somethingth place (with Tom and Clive We were about to take on a 10k finishing in a remarkable 25th and 26th respectively) and assault course through mud and lakes, over scramble nets vowed, after a quick hose-down, that we would definitely be and walls, under barbed wire, and through numerous pain back again next year. But we might try to do just a little more barriers. training first! We were greeted by an irritatingly cheery warm-up instructor who ensured that we were all laughing (albeit through gritted teeth) and that all our major muscle groups stretched and ready. Distressingly for me though, I was also exhausted just by the warm up! And then in a flurry of lycra, accompanied by fireworks, flames, a flying camera drone and the cheers of our non-running supporters, we set off.
Liam used to volunteer with FOCUS and now he’s written a fantastic book.
Street-wise and gutsy at 17, Gizmo is kicked out of home and into a hostel for teenagers in Radford, Nottingham. Gizmo quickly makes friends with two other residents, Val and Boo Boo Girl and the girls realise that by selling their bodies for money in the infamous Forest Road red-light district, they can fund their lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and battling to have a good time. The reality and darkness of inner city life engulfs the feisty trio as Boo Boo Girl is raped by a middle-aged punter, Robert. The ensuing court case collapses when Boo Boo Girl is humiliated on the witness stand for being a working girl and Robert is acquitted. Armed only with a small knife, her Dogknife, compelled by rage and her deep sense of justice, Gizmo’s plans for bloody revenge catapult her away from the increasingly dangerous streets of Nottingham into the world of imprisoned young offenders and institutionalised cycles of violence.
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Told from Gizmo’s slang-heavy point of view, by a writer who knows, Dogknife is a gritty account of life on the streets of Nottingham in the late 90s, when drugs and crime are on the rise and the city is about to hit the national headlines for all the wrong reasons. Welcome to Nottingham, this is Dogknife.
Join FOCUS Charity’s Alumni Association today! If you have been a part of FOCUS (or Bridge as it was formerly known) during the past 25 years you are eligible to join the Alumni Association. We welcome all our past volunteers, trustees, participants and staff to become part of our active and rapidly growing alumni community. As an Alumnus you will receive: • • • • • • •
Our quarterly news letter by e-bulletin covering FOCUS’ latest news and future activities Invitations to alumni events Support with organizing your own reunions Email forwarding Invitations to celebration events Updates on FOCUS activities Access to the alumni social and professional online networks
Go to our website www.focus-charity.co.uk and send us your info.
Blast from the past Whilst trawling through our archives, we stumbled upon a suprise letter we received many years ago when FOCUS was formally named ‘Bridge’. Now, we heard that at some point in FOCUS’ history we had a patron that supported our work but had no written or visual connection to this person, until now.
Are Youtubers the New Breed of Celebrities? Written by Yasin Shabbaz
Youtube. A website in which users can post videos, comment on other videos posted by other users and subscribe to them if they want to be updated when the user posts again. Once you post a video, the commonly known phrase that is given to you is a ‘Youtuber’. However, there’s much more to it than just posting videos and having others comment on it. There’s a certain way that users can get paid real money for getting certain amounts of views on your video and having a certain amount of subscribers. So let’s dive in. First of all I’m just going to quickly point out the basic idea of how you get paid. Once you have a certain amount of subscribers and views on your videos, you can apply to become what’s called a ‘Youtube Partner’. Once you’re a partner, you get paid for ads posted and advertised on the sides of your videos. So for each view you get, you also get paid a certain percentage by Youtube, which also applies when someone clicks on the ad next to your video. You might be wondering though. What does this have to do with being a celebrity? Well here’s an example. ‘Timothy DelaGhetto’. A Youtube comedian that started off by making video blogs and skits, as well as being a musician on the side. His following grew and grew, to a point where he has around 2.5 million subscribers and has over 579 million views on all his videos combined(this not including his music channel and video blogging channel). Having this many subscribers and being a ‘Youtube Partner’ has meant that he is earning some serious money. Around $15,000 a month just from his
main channel videos on average. Bare in mind that he’s not even apart of the top 100 and yet he already earns some serious money. However you do have to bare in mind, his videos tend to be mainly directed at a mature audience, 18+, so viewer discretion is advised. What about the lifestyle of this successful Youtuber? Well, It’s come to a point where he’s taken his music career to different cities and countries every week, and performs songs that have been posted up on his music channel, in which he has thousands of fans cueing up to see him perform these songs. He also tends to show his viewers his daily life, via video blogging and posting on his second channel ‘thetimothydelaghetto’ when he visits all these different cities and countries. He also makes sure to keep connected with his immense amount of fans through meet and greets which is also shown in his video blogs on this second channel.
It’s come to a point where by being a successful Youtuber, you can make a jump from the internet to the television industry. For example, Youtubers with the usernames ‘Fred’, ‘Nigahiga’ and the person I mentioned ‘Timothydelaghetto’ have all made jumps to television shows or movies. Fred, being the star in his own movie. ‘Nigahiga’ being a guest star in a Nickelodeon show, ‘Supah Ninjas’ and ‘Timothy DelaGhetto’ being featured in many episodes of the famous MTV show, ‘Wild n Out’ which involves other famous celebrities such as Nick Cannon. So just to review, he has millions who watch him on Youtube, thousands of fans who come to see his shows or meet him and gets casted for television shows. So..
The fault in our stars. A book by John Green. Written by Amina Adnan what’s the difference between him and a celebrity? The only difference I’ve figured is that he doesn’t frequently get swarmed by crazy fans and doesn’t have to wear disguises in public like other well known celebrities. Oh, and you’re less likely to hear them same old negative meeting stories about how the person was ‘stuck up’ or ‘mean’ in person. This is most likely because movie stars and television celebrities tend to be less connected with their fans than Youtubers, since Youtubers upload videos and talk directly to their fans which gives the viewers a sense involvement. Of course typical celebrities are connected to their fans via social media such as ‘Twitter’ or ‘Facebook’ but I’m just stating that Youtubers tend to go the extra mile to involve their viewers. So to conclude, from my personal perspective I believe that successful Youtubers are practically a new kind of celebrity. They earn tons of money, get recognized by fans in public, host their own shows worldwide and last but not least get casted in television shows and/or movies. I can already imagine it, young kids aspiring to become Youtubers like ‘Nigahiga’ or ‘IJustine’ rather than famous actors like ‘Adam Sandler’ and ‘Kate Moss’. But of course that’s just my opinion. But what’s yours? Do you believe Youtubers are a new breed of celebrities?
The fault in our stars is an enchanting book about a young teenage girl - Hazel Grace - who has been diagnosed with lung cancer and regularly attends a cancer support group. She is a 16 year old whom at first was rather reluctant of going to the support group but later realises that it wasnt such a bad idea. Hazel meets a charming and rather witty boy - Augustus Waters - who had osteosarcoma, but has recently been told that he has been cured. Hazel and Augustus face many obstacles and emotions. They experience love, heart throbbing sadness, and never ending romance. Their love towards the same author - Peter Van Houten and his well known novel - an imperial affliction - leads them to travel to Amsterdam in search for him. This is where they discover their affection towards one another and some gob smacking news that tears both of them apart. This masterpiece by John Greene is filled with heartbreaking events, witty humour, and a book where you will find yourself laughing, crying and smiling as their adventure unravels. I highly recommend this book, and hope you enjoy it just as much as I did.
YAT represent at Leicester Day On Sunday 24th August 2014, our Youth Action Team represented youth volunteering for FOCUS at Leicester Day. For one day, Leicester market is taken over by local community organisations, clubs, societies and voluntary groups. They will be promoting their organisations to the people of Leicester and Leicestershire. It is a showcase of what goes on, in and around our neighbourhood. A real diversity of activities, cultures and interests, areon display, together with street performers, musicians and the talents that make Leicester the OUR place to be.
We started the day at 9am setting up our stall. Alongside FOCUS’ information we had one of our young leaders running their community project with their team. It was was an arts workshop that proved to be hugely successful throughout the day, with a number of families and individuals swarming around the stall to make loom bands, flags and paint masks. Our youth ambassadors of volunteering did a fantastic job talking to the public and inspiring others to make an impact in their comminities and were fun to be with all day. A huge thank you to our Youth Action Team for representing FOCUS and youth volunteering in Leicester, well done.
FOCUS are delighted to be inviting FOCUS alumni to a reunion dinner to celebrate its 25th Anniversary. The reunion is a unique opportunity to meet up with old friends and reminisce and is being held in the Kings Room at the Mecure Grand Hotel, Leicester on Friday the 21st November 2014 at 6pm. Over the past 25 years, FOCUS has been changing the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, disabled young people and those with low self-esteem or confidence. Highlights of the evening include: • A three course meal. • Live entrainment. • A blast from the past, volunteers and beneficiaries from the past and present will share their stories of FOCUS and the impact its had on their lives. • The launch of FOCUS latest Campaign ‘We Do More Than you Think’. Tickets are available on a first come first served basis and are free to Focus’ past volunteers, trustees, staff and participants If you are interested in attending please contact Emily Taylor on 01162510369 or emily.taylor@focus-charity.co.uk We look forward to seeing you there!
YAT Reunited One of the great things about celebrating the 25th anniversary of our first project has been getting back in touch with some of the people who’ve made FOCUS such a fantastic organisation. In August some of our Youth Action Team alumni (all were members from 2008 – 2011) got together to catch up, reminisce about their time at FOCUS and share what they have achieved since. “The confidence FOCUS has given me has helped me get a job with the local council. I have learnt so many new skills and met so many new people through being a member of the Youth Action Team.” Chris It was a great evening, which had a great vibe. Everyone was genuinely pleased to see each other and catch up. They really are a tight knit group of friends and there was a lot of love in room! “FOCUS has had a big impact on who I am as a person, they supported me through some really hard times and always made me feel welcome and part of the team.” Ray The 2008 – 2011 members of the Youth Action Team (YAT) were an incredibly diverse group of 16-25 year olds that supported the work of our vinvolved team. They were ambassadors for youth volunteering across Leicester, inspiring organisations to involve more young volunteers and providing training and top tips to help them shape their projects. “The skills I learnt on FOCUS residential have really improved my confidence and team working skills.” Karl They also regularly delivered workshops promoting the benefits of youth volunteering to their peers and recruited young people to get involved, as well as identifying community issues and developing projects to address them. The YAT also organised and ran the ‘Community Star Awards’ - a prestigious, annual event that recognised the impact of young peoples volunteering in the city. “Volunteering with FOCUS has made me have a more positive outlook on life and they gave me the opportunity to experience new things and meet new people.” Salome Spending an evening with this group and hearing how their experiences in the YAT have shaped their lives since was a pleasure and a privilege. “I never would of been able to start a career in dance without the confidence FOCUS has given me. I am now so much more confident and socially active than before.” Tilly Quite what the other diners in the restaurant where we held our reunion made of our stories, laughter, and endless selfies I really don’t know. But it brought home to us how much impact volunteering can have on young people’s lives. “Before FOCUS I was living in a hostel and doing nothing with my life and now I’m in my own home, working and studying.” Ainsley Organising an alumni get together can be great fun and is a really good way to connect with old friends. If you would like to arrange a FOCUS get together of your own please let us know as the FOCUS team would be very happy to support you with this.
A huge thank you to our funders and supporters for enabling us to make a difference to the lives of young people and our communities. With your continued support, we are able to deliver a high quality service in Leicester/shire and benefit those who need our support.
We value any comments and suggestions about our magazine from our readers. If you have any suggestions or would like to add an article in to our future editions, please contact: Joe Roughton Projects Manager Focus Charity 73 Church Gate Leicester LE1 3AN 0116 251 0369 joe.roughton@focus-charity.co.uk www.focus-charity.co.uk