Young People Committee – Programme 2024/25

The Children and Families Working Party was formed in August 2023 following the
Council’s adoption of the general power of competence. It initiated a new approach
to the changing needs of the village. An initial £2,000 was allocated by the Council
for pilot events in 2023/24.
Since August 2023 the working party has been responsible for setting up six different
activities which engaged over 230 children and their families. The party also
conducted research around the village to begin to assess the needs of children and
families in the village.
The key findings to emerge from the activities was the need to provide a place and
more opportunities for villagers to meet and for all children to socialise within their
own community. We also saw the urgent need to create a Youth club. This has been
our priority. There is a need to offer more support the under 5 and their families
within the village community.
In essence the Working Party’s efforts have developed into a community
engagement strategy for which we believe we are just at the very beginning.
Following our first year of exploration we have devised a programme of events for
the forthcoming year.
Collaboration in the village
Formalise a meeting
Key to future development in the village community is collaboration with other
organisations which serve children and families. This will be strategically vital as an
on-going process as the village changes. We believe that it is best led by the council.
We propose that we convene a meeting to involve all organisations in the village to
come together in March 2024. This will run as an annual event.
Youth Club
Establish a village youth Club
Our ultimate aim is for the teenagers to become an active part of village life.
There is no opportunity for teenagers to meet and socialise in the village in a safe
space. We believe that this is essential for them to develop social relationships
essential for adult life. It is vital that we establish the correct approach and delivery of
the service for which we have no expertise.
We therefore propose that we engage a professional contractor such as the Inspire
project which could be considered for the first year (see proposal later in this
meeting). A minimum provision will be a youth club for 1 hour each week. This could
begin in April or ASAP.

We have 2 volunteers who are offering support with the project, but more are needed
to make a youth club sustainable and to offer more time.
The cost of a contractor, room hire and training/accreditation for volunteers would be
met from a budget allocation of £15,000
Youth Activities
Create time for children and families to meet
The underlying reason to support families is to generate true effective social
cohesion, we know that many families feel socially isolated and have been affected
by rising living costs. Our aim is for all families and children to meet and feel part of
our community support network.
We are keen to follow the success of the arts/crafts events and once again employ
professionals to run a series of workshops aimed at the primary age children
throughout the year.
The dance workshop was also successful and we hope the half term event we
enable us to carry on with this offer. We have yet to investigate drama and music.
We will draw up a calendar of events for families from April 2024
The Council would therefore like to be able to trial different activities to assess their
appeal to our children and whether they are therefore sustainable. Some activities
can be re -run: the Halloween disco and support East Bergholt Cinema. We are also
very keen to support the new initiatives led by Councillor Davies & Julia Smith to
begin a new children’s library in the church.
A budget allocation of £3000 would enable professional support for events to be
engaged and for events to be expanded if the programme proves to be successful.
Mums & Toddlers
Our aim in improving provision is to create a place where young families can
develop positive relationships and supportive networks.
The church runs the existing Mums & Toddlers group but only once each month. We
feel, as does the church, that this provision should be improved. The church is
however experiencing a time of change. We would like to work with them as a joint
enterprise and develop the existing provision such as the acquisition of new
equipment and the possible increase in the regularity of sessions.
A budget allocation of £2000 will enable the realisation of significant improvement to
the offering, which is currently limited due to lack of resources.