£17k funding boost will help support teens

The money, following a successful application by Lancashire Youth Challenge to Ørsted’s Walney Extension Community Fund, will help secure the employment of staff to deliver a programme, Our Place In The World, designed to enable some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Lancaster and Morecambe to investigate and define their place in society via participation in high quality sports, cultural and creative arts based activities.

Guy Christiansen, chair of LYC, said: “This is wonderful news and could not have come at a better time as we can now plan for the year ahead with confidence that we will have the staff in place to deliver all of our activities and ambitions for our programme.”

The project will work with young people from a range of diverse communities and will assist them in developing pride and association with their environments and challenge them to make positive changes in themselves and their immediate surroundings.

Guy added: “The project will provide physical challenges, cultural research visits and participatory creative film making, writing and music workshops designed to offer a voice to the most vulnerable young people in our community; who feel disenfranchised and under-represented.

“Our young participants will explore, investigate, challenge and respond to their emotional and physical landscape whilst comparing their locality and life journeys to the experiences of others throughout our world.”

LYC, which is based at the Cornerstone building in Lancaster, supports young people aged 13-19 to help them build their confidence and develop personal skills to fulfil their potential in life.

The charity gets young people involved in a year-long project full of activities and personal development in the lead up to a major annual challenge.

In the past, participants have cycled from London to Paris, completed the National 3-Peaks Challenge and rowed across the three longest lakes in the Lake District.

Guy said: “We provide young people with a safe space on a weekly basis to come along and make friends, complete a fitness programme with qualified gym instructors and provide a monthly youth session where each individual can just be themselves, be in control of their life, overcome barriers and become motivated to continue to make good choices for themselves and continue to build new friendships.”