MTV News Christmas 2020

MTV Newsletter 26. Christmas 2020

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Dear all,

We hope you are keeping well during these difficult times. We are aware that we haven’t sent a newsletter for a long time, so as the year draws to a close we just wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the club’s progress.

Despite the obvious challenges, it has been a very positive year for the club. We had a fantastic start to 2020 with with a flurry of new members and activities. Our younger members made catapults, bracelets, jam tarts, Chinese lanterns, Valentine chocolate lollies, acetate pictures, as well as undertaking STEM activities such as bridge building and CD racers whilst Warhammer and Challenge games also featured regularly. We were delighted to welcome Kayleigh and Lydia from the LVA Trust who ran a girls’ group with some of the Year 7s, and Jonny from One Two Graffiti who started another 6-part spray art course with the young people. Football and basketball continued to prove very popular whatever the weather.

By mid-March we had over 140 members with 60+ young people coming along on Friday nights before we had to end the term early when Lockdown 1 came into force.

Despite the Summer term restrictions, we got our young people involved by helping with online quizzes, running a 10-part taskmaster challenge series, as well as continuing one to one mentoring with some of our older youth who found this period particularly difficult. Behind the scenes we applied for grants and made preparations so that we could hit the ground running when restrictions did ease.

We started outdoor fitness in the summer holidays and have continued to run these sessions until we broke up for the end of term. Football and basketball bubbles also returned when government guidance permitted.

Since September, we have worked with over 60 young people. It has been an enriching time of being able to get to know them better, 'hanging out' with them in a smaller group setting, whilst having lots of fun!

Even during the most recent lockdown, we were able to continue to run regular invite-only bubbles for vulnerable young people, each week running sessions for: Year 8 group doing active games and challenges, fitness bubble for those in Years 5-7, fitness bubble for older youth (16-19 year olds) as well as a weekly Monday fitness session for secondary school aged boys (ages 12+).

Our Bubble numbers have varied depending upon the activity undertaken but were kept to a maximum of 12-15 young people plus leaders (in adherence to the National Youth Agency guidance at the time). For safety reasons, we were required to keep these bubbles consistent, with the same young people invited each week.

In November we were awarded a grant from London Youth to run Getting Active sessions for those aged 8-13 (e.g. small group fitness, multi-sports, active games etc). The fund has already enabled us to bring in paid coaches to run and support sessions. Hannah and Jess, who have been involved with MTV ever since they first joined the club in 2012 (first as members, then Young Leaders, now Adult Leaders), and who are both coaches with Sport England, have already run their first paid sessions for the club. It has also enabled Shaun Bristol to continue to run small group fitness sessions on Mondays with Nick. Shaun, a Personal Trainer, has been running strength and conditioning sessions with a group of our young people since July and has known Nick since 2005 when he was a member of a youth group Nick volunteered with!

What next?

In the new year we will be expanding the Getting Active programme to run four times a week. This will include sessions for both Years 3-6 and Years 7-13.

In addition to the Friday club bubbles, we will also launch a weekly club session for primary school aged children every Monday afternoon (4.30pm-5.30pm). This will provide a safe space for our younger members to hang out, try a range of activities, and have fun. Obviously, our start date for these sessions will depend upon what is permitted by the National Youth Agency’s guidelines in the new year.

Jack Petchey Achievement Awards

Huge congratulations to Tyler W and Lucy F for winning Jack Petchey Achievement awards this year. It was great to see the young people acknowledge the outstanding contribution that Tyler and Lucy have made to the club. They have both decided to spend their £250 grant on equipment for the youth club, which is handy and very much appreciated!

The awards recognise those young people who have gone above and beyond what might be expected of them and can be won by anyone aged 11-25. The scheme gives the following advice when selecting nominees:

“Young people achieve in lots of ways, including by overcoming personal challenges and adversity, achieving sporting and musical success as well as by volunteering and making a difference within their community…these awards are not about being the ‘best’, they are about ‘doing your best’…perhaps those who are always helping others, being a good role model, coping with adversity, doing community work, giving service within the community, or maybe just trying really hard!”

We have now been able to give out 21 Jack Petchey Achievement awards since we joined the scheme. Our next vote will take place at some point between January-June 2021.

Welcome to our new Children’s Worker

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Children’s Worker, Kristy Chow, who really impressed the panel at interview. Having volunteered at MTV Youth for 3 years Kristy knows the club and young people very well and we are extremely excited about her plans to really enhance and develop the experience and opportunities that what we can offer our primary school age members (Yr3-6).

We hope that explains a bit about what has been going on at MTV in 2020 and our plans for the club as we continue to try and support the young people in our community through this time.

We will now be taking a break until the New Year but if you are interested in supporting MTV Youth in any way, please do contact Nick using the contact details below and he will be in touch in the New Year.

Finally, thank you for your continued support for MTV. It is very much appreciated.

We hope that you and your loved ones are able to enjoy the festive break despite the challenges and we wish you the very best for 2021.

MTV Youth

Wishing all of our supporters a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Thank yous:

Inspired Women who presented a cheque of £2,300 to MTV Youth at the start of the year following a series of fundraising events in 2019.

Table Tennis England (in partnership with The Jack Petchey Foundation) for providing MTV Youth with 2 outdoor Table Tennis Tables and accompanying resources.

Jack Petchey Foundation for their Achievement Award and Leader Award grants.

Harvey & Green Construction for donating materials for our spray art sessions and helping to reposition our heavy equipment.

London Youth for a £1,500 grant to run the Getting Active Programme.

Hampton Parochial Charity for their School of Industry grant to one of our young people which meant they could attend college this year.

Hampton Fund for their continued support to MTV Youth including an annual grant which covered our staff costs – 2 part time staff and admin support. The Hampton Fund (previously known as the Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity) has been a supporter of the club since 2012.

To all our supporters who make regular donations to the club, helping to pay our running costs including venue hire and the resources needed to offer a diverse range of activities that engage, equip, and empower our young people.

To the donors who have contributed to our fund to buy the Bungalow and thus help secure the long-term future of the club. Since launching the campaign in July 2019 we have so far raised a staggering £60,000. This money is all ring fenced. Whilst the onset of Covid-19 put a temporary hold on our ability to apply for capital grants and run fundraising events, we hope to push on strongly with this fundraising endeavour next year as we seek to purchase the Bungalow within the next 18 months.

CONGRATULATIONS:

Briony & Felix on their engagement!

Briony joined MTV as a member when it first began in 2011, rising to become a Young Leader and then Adult Leader. Now in her final year studying Criminology & Sociology she continues to help at MTV when she can and is a core member of our Residential Team that takes the MTV Young Leaders for their annual Leadership Training weekend at Hindleap Warren (that is until Covid-19 restrictions put a hold on these events). Felix, who has previously run music sessions at MTV, is currently finishing his Masters in Design Engineering. Felix has accepted our invitation to design and build a new website for MTV Youth, which we hope will be ready for launch in late 2021! We wish them all the best in their future together.

MTV Values: Lead by Example, Support Each Other and Have Fun