Mahdlo Youth Zone Annual Review 2014-15

WELCOME

As we enter our fourth year of growth and activity at Mahdlo, and reflect on the progress that we have made, I believe that we have much to be grateful for.

I have to congratulate the Board and management team for their continued leadership and success; praise the skills, unfaltering enthusiasm and care shown by the team and our generous volunteers; and, of course, give thanks for the ongoing and essential backing of our supporter network.

I am sure fellow supporters will agree that there is tremendous pride and pleasure in seeing the positive impact Mahdlo is having on the young people of Oldham. Schools are reporting that Mahdlo members are better

behaved, pay more attention and are gaining higher standards, whilst their achievements in everything from sports and performance to enterprise and exploration never fail to impress. The number of Youth Zones across the OnSide network continues to grow, and the target of twenty spread throughout the country by 2020 is well on track. At Mahdlo, 2015-16 will be an epic year. We are not only looking to expand membership numbers, but are going to be further developing our offer and introducing a host of new initiatives to support even more young people to fulfil their potential.

I hope that you will all take the fullest advantage by being involved!

Norman Stoller

CBE CStJ DL, President

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

MORE PARTNERSHIPS, MORE POSSIBILITIES

In our third year, Mahdlo’s offer has undergone tremendous development thanks to our generous support network and committed, skilled team, resulting in more young people experiencing life-changing benefits. Delivery of a wider and better quality range of opportunities has led to broadened horizons, new experiences,

increased skills and confidence for our members, and has enabled Mahdlo to establish some really beneficial partnerships.

In addition to expanding our offer, we have successfully reached a significant number of new young people. We are proud to have increased our overall membership in 2014-15 by 54% and more than doubled Senior Zone membership. This increase has been supported by the launch of our

outreach services and evolution from purely centre-based provision to a ‘hub and spokes’ model. This has been an ambition from the outset, but became a priority as we worked closely with the local authority to assess how Mahdlo can offer support in light of the cuts to council youth provision.

In recognition of our success in supporting young people and bringing communities together, Oldham Council leaders expressed support for Mahdlo assuming more of a co-ordination role in wider youth service delivery. In December 2014, it was agreed that two strands of the council youth services –the Detached team and district based Youth Development Officers – would be seconded to Mahdlo as of April 2015, and we look forward to welcoming them on board.

In its first 3 years, Mahdlo has successfully established itself as a key asset for Oldham, responding to local needs and priorities, and providing a fantastic array of services and activities that make a real difference to young people’s lives. Furthermore, Mahdlo has united the private, public and voluntary sectors around the common goal of ensuring the best for Oldham’s young people now and in the future. I share the same pride as all those involved, in being part of this incredible journey.

I know, with the support of the great people of Oldham, Mahdlo will continue to go from strength to strength.

Helen Taylor Chief Executive

GET ACTIVE

OUR SPORTS, TRAINING AND GYM PROMOTE HEALTH AND FITNESS AND BUILD SELF-ESTEEM

Building on the success of our ‘Try, Train, Team’ approach in previous years, we have seen our sports teams go from strength to strength. Dodgeball in particular has been hugely popular with our members; working in partnership with Wigan and The Factory

Youth Zones and the UK Dodgeball Association, we established the first Junior Dodgeball League in the North West.

Our members have really enjoyed playing against teams from other Youth Zones, doing us proud in all of their fixtures. The Junior basketball team were crowned winners of the first Youth Zone Basketball Tournament and one of our Junior Girls football team won a ‘Player

of the Tournament’ trophy in the inter-Youth Zone league.

Taking on feedback from members, our kickboxing and Thai boxing offer evolved to include regular training, plus a Girls Zone self-defence course and Ability Thai boxing sessions.

Mad For Mahdlo Week once again saw our members go the extra mile, with Seniors ‘climbing a mile’ for Mahdlo and our Friday night running group taking part in the Oldham 7K and 10K runs. We also ended the year on a high at the 2015 President’s Cup, with our team coming 3rd overall out of all competing Youth Zones, and our Ability Sports team taking home the ‘Inclusion Winners’ trophy!

“I FOUND I REALLY LOVED PLAYING FOOTBALL AND PLAYING AGAINST STRONGER PLAYERS AS IT’S A CHALLENGE.”

GET AHEAD

EMPLOYMENT AND ENTERPRISE PROJECTS SUPPORT FUTURE SUCCESS

Our Employability and Enterprise programmes have seen great successes this year in placing young people into training, employment and education and further strengthening our links with key local businesses. The Get A Job programme, piloted across three Youth Zones including Mahdlo, saw over 80% of participants positively progress into an opportunity, and has now been rolled out across the OnSide Youth Zone network. Our enterprising members developed their skills through setting up tuck shops at events, selling loom bands and holding stalls at local markets. Inspiration came from a number of high profile speakers at our Business Breakfasts, and from VIP visitors such as Dame Professor Nancy Rothwell and Professor Brian Cox, OBE. As part

of a Mahdlo Merchandise project, nine young people travelled to London to learn about retail and marketing – they also had time for a bit of sightseeing in the capital!

This year saw the launch of our Junior Leaders programme, which is a 6-week training programme on how to be a positive role model and leader. On completion, young people are presented with a certificate and Junior Leader t-shirt which they can wear with pride when delivering activities at Junior Zone. We continued to work with secondary schools to deliver ‘transitions’ programmes and support young people in making positive career choices, ran regular drop-in ‘job clubs’ and hosted a number of well attended jobs fairs to ensure our members

have access to a diverse range of opportunities across Oldham and beyond.

“THE BEST THING ABOUT THE ‘GET A JOB’ COURSE FOR ME WAS IMPROVING MY SELF-CONFIDENCE, MY CV AND MY INTERVIEW SKILLS - NOW I KNOW WHAT TO SAY AT INTERVIEWS WHICH IS FANTASTIC!”

GET CONNECTED

COMMUNITY PROJECTS AND VOLUNTEERING PROMOTE CITIZENSHIP AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS

One of our biggest strengths is our commitment to listening to young people and making our members’ voices heard. Senior Voice re-launched this year, with young people nominated to act as representatives of our members. The group enjoyed a team building and planning residential, organised a party at Mahdlo and have put plans in place for quarterly consultations to provide us with feedback about what our members want. Our Junior members took part in a cohesion project, which brought together people from different backgrounds to learn from each other and bond as a group. Working with Oldham’s Interfaith Forum over 8 weeks, they discussed their own cultures, faiths and life experiences and came together

for a weekend residential and even visited each other’s places of worship to break down barriers between the groups and form lasting friendships. Planned sharing activities really brought our members – and team – together over the course of the year. For instance, we celebrated the month of Ramadan through ‘breaking the fast’ – over 100 Seniors stopped what they were doing and sat down to eat a meal, talk and ask questions about Ramadan. Our members have been very active out in the community, doing litter picking and bag packs, decorating trees, being the ‘5 gold rings’ in Oldham Council’s 12 Days of Christmas festive parade, and performing across the borough to support local events. We also opened our doors to the wider community to

show more people what Mahdlo is all about – in February, over 700 people attended our ‘Love Oldham, Love Mahdlo’ event!

“MAHDLO HAS MADE ME MORE CONFIDENT TO GO OUT AND SOCIALISE MORE WITH OTHERS.”

GET CREATIVE

PERFORMANCE AND ARTS PROJECTS DEVELOP CREATIVE SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE

From performance to visual arts, animation to music-making, our new Get Creative offer has developed into an exciting and engaging programme. Workshops have given our members the opportunity to try new things and discover creative skills; stop-motion animation, mixed-media and textile arts, Ability music and percussion

are just some of the sessions that they’ve enjoyed.

Mahdlo members have been on song throughout the year, writing an original song for the Festival of Remembrance at Queen Elizabeth Hall, developing songwriting skills on a project about the regeneration of St. Mary’s and even releasing their own professional track (‘Stand Tall’) on iTunes after a successful Music Production course with OliBo Media! Across Oldham, our members have been delighting

audiences with their talents, walking the catwalk at the Spindles Fashion Show, performing at local festivals and wowing the crowds at our annual Winter Ball. Our Juniors were also able to showcase their painting skills and work with renowned local artist Kevin Haynes. As the finale to this art project, Kevin Haynes generously created a painting for Mahdlo that was then auctioned off to raise an incredible £4000.

Alongside developing artistic and life skills, our Get Creative programme has also opened up conversations and enabled our members to address issues that mean something to them. Over the summer, we worked with Oldham Youth Council to put on ‘The Event’. Working with industry professionals and tackling issues such as bullying and self-esteem, 21 young

people developed a show that was performed to a 100-strong audience including the Mayor, Mayoress and Youth Mayor.

“THE MUSIC PRODUCTION COURSE WAS AWESOME AND I AM NOW MORE CONFIDENT WITH SPEAKING TO OTHER PEOPLE IN A GROUP –IT REALLY HELPED ME, WAS FUN AND I MET SOME AMAZING FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY!”

GET OUTDOORS

EXPLORING NATURE AND ADVENTURE PROMOTES CONFIDENCE, TEAMWORK AND SOCIAL SKILLS

Through boot camps, residentials and local projects, Mahdlo members have been exploring the great outdoors and developing invaluable life skills along the way. A group of Senior members were put through their paces on an Army Bootcamp at Holcombe Moor Army base, living the life of an army cadet for one week. The routine included early morning wake-up calls, late night treks, team and individual trials and really did challenge the group to push themselves. Despite the mud, rations and early mornings, they all asked if they could do it again and two young people were so inspired by the experience that they intend to pursue a career in the Armed Forces.

During the summer months, our Seniors took part in a wide variety of outdoor

activities. From donning hiking boots and completing the 42-mile Oldham Way Challenge in the blistering heat to cooking their own meals before caving, gorge walking and zip wiring on a Get Outdoors residential, they did themselves proud and really bonded as a peer group as a result of these experiences.

Working with Incredible Farm, our Juniors have been growing their own produce and learning more about where food comes from. They enjoyed the fruits of their labour when they took their produce to the local market to sell freshly pressed apple juice and vegetables to members of the public, and rustle up some tasty and healthy treats in ‘Cook and Eat’ sessions.

Mahdlo has now become the open access centre for The Duke of Edinburgh

Award, which increases our capacity to offer adventurous and valuable experiences to our members, whilst feedback from young people continues to inform our offer.

“I’VE HAD SO MANY NEW EXPERIENCES AT MAHDLO, SEEING AND LEARNING ABOUT DIFFERENT PLACES.”

GET SORTED

ONE-TO-ONE AND GROUP WORKSHOPS PROMOTE HEALTHY MINDS, LIFESTYLES AND CHOICES

Our Brew Clubs continued to be hugely popular and we are now able to have a dedicated Youth Worker in both Junior and Senior Zone sessions to offer one-to-one support in a safe and welcoming environment. We have also had a really positive uptake amongst Senior members for the counselling sessions delivered by Mind.

The Protect and Respect project, run in partnership with NSPCC, aimed to give participants the knowledge and confidence to make safe and healthy decisions in their lives. Feedback from the young people involved showed that this had an immediate positive impact on their self-esteem and confidence in their ability to make healthy decisions.

In consultation with Senior members, Mahdlo embraced the national ‘Stoptober’ campaign as a number

of Seniors had expressed an interest in quitting smoking. The workshops and activities were well received and led to a month focusing on Drugs Awareness.

Brook continued to facilitate sexual health drop-ins in our Chill Zone, which our Seniors find invaluable, whilst our own Keyworker Scheme ensured that one-to-one support is available for young people who need it but don’t access our other services for various reasons.

The Mahdlo Mentoring Programme launched this year and has already proved to be incredibly beneficial for both mentees and mentors. In addition to the one-to-one support the Mentoring Programme offers, the whole group came together to enjoy walks, quiz nights and a trip to Stonerig Raceway. With over 25 active

matches and more mentors being recruited, we are confident that this programme will have a real, lasting impact on the development of young people.

“IT’S GREAT HAVING A MENTOR AND SOMEONE TO TALK TO WHENEVER I NEED. I THINK IT HAS HELPED ME GET BACK ON TRACK.”

AN INCLUSIVE YOUTH ZONE

A YOUTH ZONE FOR EVERYONE

With a newly appointed Ability Coordinator, we have increased our capacity for providing inclusive and accessible activities both in Ability Zone and other sessions. We successfully ran our first CADS (Children’s Able and Disabled Sports) project over Summer 2014, which saw 42 young people engage in a range of new and exciting activities, including silent dance, seated volleyball, adapted cycling and arts and crafts.

Boccia was the surprise hit of the year – the initial sessions in Ability Zone were so successful we now have a boccia team and have trained three of our members to deliver sessions themselves! Funding through ‘A Level Playing Field’ enabled us to adapt our changing and toilet facilities to accommodate young people who may need support with personal care or mobility, and

additional training for staff ensures we can better support all Ability members. A number of local schools completed a TSN (Try Something New) project over the course of the year, exploring cohesion and cultural awareness and developing skills in everything from fashion and art to writing music. We further strengthened our links with local secondary schools to provide more young people with access to our ‘Alternative Provision’ programme. Aimed at pupils who don’t engage with mainstream education, this project supports them to develop the skills and experience needed to improve their employability, social skills, motivation and ability to manage feelings whilst helping to reduce the risk of social exclusion.

To support the development of our Girls Zone, a core group of regular attenders organised a consultation

with their peers to feed into our planning. Members attending Girls Zone have enjoyed a range of activities this year, including cookery, roller discos, sports and day trips. We have also secured funding to increase our sports offer for girls – this is something they are very excited about!

We continued to welcome large numbers of families to Mahdlo every weekend – many new to Mahdlo this year – and introduced a number of new activities in addition to our regular parties, celebration events and family tournaments. Mindfulness sessions to promote positive wellbeing proved popular, and in response to an increase in BME women accessing the family session, we now run a women’s only session in the gym.

FUNDRAISING HIGHLIGHTS

As a charity, we couldn’t do what we do without the support and generosity of our patrons, supporters, local businesses and the people of Oldham. Each year, a varied events calendar helps us to reach our fundraising targets and ensure we keep our doors open and Mahdlo an affordable place for all.

APRIL 2014

Mahdlo was a beneficiary of the One Oldham Business Awards, receiving £3,000. Our members kicked off the night with a dance to Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’

MAY 2014

10,000 kicks challenge – Mahdlo members took on this kickboxing challenge to raise £1,000 for new equipment

£ £ £

JUNE 2014

Our annual celebration of all things

Mahdlo – Mad For Mahdlo Week –raised £2,900

SEPTEMBER 2014

Our Golf Day at Saddleworth Golf Course raised £4,187. Paul Scholes’ team, Chadderton Park FC, were crowned the winners

SEPTEMBER 2014

435 people packed onto coaches and headed off to Haydock Park races, with proceeds raising £10,875 for Mahdlo

OCTOBER 2014

Our joint event with Oldham Boxing raised £3,813

NOVEMBER 2014

Mahdlo was transformed into a winter wonderland for our annual ball, which raised an amazing £34,000

FEBRUARY 2015

Our ‘Love Oldham, Love Mahdlo’ event saw brave souls step out onto hot coals for a firewalk raising £8,000

MARCH 2015

An auction of a bespoke ‘Mahdlo masterpiece’ by local artist Kevin Haynes raised £4,000

FINANCE

2014-15 was another good year for Mahdlo and as a result we ended the year in a strong financial position. We had an overall marked growth in our operations; in particular we greatly expanded our delivery of restricted funded projects with an associated threefold increase in project income. This also brought in new young people and increased overall attendance, consequently increasing our sales

INCOME GROWTH TARGETS

income. As in our previous years, we benefited significantly from ongoing support from our incredibly generous patrons and a vital grant from the Local Authority. We are pleased to report we exceeded income targets for sales and fundraising although we did not achieve our targets for patron income and donations. The need to expand and diversify our supporter base

continues to be an ongoing priority as we fully recognise we cannot continue to rely on the same supporters. A key point to note is that Mahdlo took ownership of The Youth Zone building from OnSide. This has been included in the accounts as a gift and generated an exceptional increase in non-operational income for the year and strengthens our balance sheet for the future.

INCOME

Sales £228,894

Local Authority £400,500

Project grants (restricted) £469,373

Patrons and donations £372,273

Fundraising £104,772

Property donated £4,199,655

Investment income £1,266

Total £5,776,733

EXPENDITURE

Delivery costs £304,721

Fundraising £13,066

Management and admin £72,666

Premises £146,286

Staffing £957,309

Total £1,494,048

CHAIRMAN’S COMMENT

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE

Firstly let me reinforce the thanks to all the people that support Mahdlo; we could not do this without you. As we look to the future, aiming to build on the success of this and previous years, standing still is not an option. The expansion of our role and delivery model in 2015-16 is a key area of development. This will further our reach, diversify our offer of support and crucially, enable us to have more of a strategic role in the development of comprehensive youth services. This of course, increases the challenge, so I pose the question, “Is Mahdlo and the town of Oldham up for the challenge?” I think so!

Some of the areas we will be focusing on:

• Continuing to improve the quality of our programmes to ensure we have a real impact on young people’s lives.

• Expanding the breadth of programmes to give greater opportunities across the borough.

• Supporting more young people to engage and benefit from the fantastic services and opportunities on offer through our outreach programme and ongoing promotion in schools and the local community – we want more young people regularly attending and staying with us year after year.

• Continuing to focus on being an effective and efficient organisation where young people’s voices are heard, staff are skilled and committed and a high calibre of staff and volunteers want to work.

• Importantly, we need to continue our focus on fundraising to keep Mahdlo sustainable and vibrant, in particular increasing support from the private sector and the local community. We need to secure in excess of £500,000 from the private sector to deliver what we want to!

Do get in touch, come and see what Mahdlo is about and get involved in whatever way you can.

Come on Mahdlo!

Terry Flanagan Chairman

TEAM MAHDLO

Team Mahdlo are a highly motivated, skilled, experienced and diverse mix of full-time staff, sessional workers and volunteers who give their incredible energies and knowledge to supporting our young people. They are a credit to Mahdlo and Oldham.

MEET THE BOARD

WILLIAM LEES-JONES TERRY FLANAGAN NORMAN STOLLER CBE CStJ DL

KASHIF ASHRAF DAVE BENSTEAD JOHN AINLEY

CAROL O’HARE TIM MITCHELL DAVE WHALEY JANELLE BARKER LINDSAY WALSH

THANK YOU

Founding Patron

The Stoller Charitable Trust

Founder Patrons

David and Janelle Barker

Frank and Judith Rothwell

Greengate Metal Components

Hills Panel Products

JW Lees & Co (Brewers)

Kitbag Ltd

OMC Motor Group

Patterson and Rothwell Ltd

Peter and Patricia Casey

Wiggett Construction Group

Plus one kind, undisclosed donor

Patrons

ANSA Elevators

Benchmark Building Supplies

Chris and Gayle Hopkinson

J Greenwood Builders

Madeleine Lindley

Terry and Sue Flanagan

Supporters

29th May 1961 Charitable Trust

Accenture

Adam and Louise Kirwan

Andrew Lugg

Anthony and Margaret Preston

Anthony Hitchen

Arighi Bianchi

Asda Foundation

Big Lottery Fund

Bill and Julie Holroyd

Brian Scowcroft

Children In Need

Commando Joe’s Community Development Foundation

Edith Conn OBE JP DL

GA Dent

Garfield Weston Glasdon Charitable Committee

Handshake Group

Henry Smith Charity

Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation

Insped Ltd

John Roberts

JP Getty

Lady Susan Cropper

LG Energy

Lloyd & Smith Ltd

Mark Flanagan

Mayor’s Charity Appeal Committee

Michael Oglesby

Mouchel

Mr and Mrs Briggs

Mr and Mrs Caunce

Mr and Mrs T McBride

Mrs A Dixon

Ms S Hodgkiss

Nick Hopkinson MBE

NLDCF

North Ainley Halliwell

Oldham Business Leadership Group

One Oldham Business Awards

Palatine Private Equity LLP

RBS Property

Richard and Lauren Bartlett

Rotary Club of Oldham

Rotary Club of Oldham Metro

Rotary Club of Saddleworth

Safeguard Group

Sir James Cropper

Steve and June Ingham

Street Games UK

Susan Hopwood

Team Spirit

The Albert Hunt Trust

The Martin and Judith Ainscough Charity

Trust

The Preston Family Charitable Settlement

The Treeside Trust

Warburtons

Web Applications

WO Street

We’ve also been lucky to work with a number of fantastic organisations who have supported and contributed to our diverse programme of activities, including:

3StyleSports

AO

Barclays

Brook

Chadderton FC Juniors

Clear Presentations

Cobra Kan Karate Do

Fanny Gogh

Gallery Oldham

Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby

Greater Manchester Police

Higginshaw RLFC

Holcombe Moor Army Base

Incredible Farm

Kevin Haynes

Lancashire Lions Visually Impaired

Cricket Club

Mako Media

Marshall Fencing Club

MFYP

MID Communications Ltd (O2)

Mind

NSPCC

Oldham Athletic Community Trust

Oldham Boxing Club

Oldham College

Oldham Community Leisure

Oldham Council

Oldham Interfaith Forum

Oldham Sport Development

Oldham Theatre Workshop

Oldham Volleyball Club

Oldham Youth Council

OliBo Media

POINT

Saddleworth Rangers RLFC

SFNPR

Springhead AFC

St John Ambulance

Street League

Titanium NW

UK Dodgeball Association

Volleyball England