Inaugural John Lyons Summer camp a success

 

Future Stars teamed up with Ealing’s Youth, Connexions and Play Department and John Lyon’s Charity to deliver a two week long camp for disengaged youth throughout the Borough during the first two weeks of the Summer break. The idea behind the camp was to get to young people from the London Borough of Ealing, who for a variety of reasons are outside traditional educational institutions and have disengaged from alternative programmes. The camp not only involved sporting activities led by London United coaches, but also workshops covering such issues as nutrition and healthy diets, drug and alcohol abuse, CV writing, crime prevention and antisocial behaviour. The most eager participants of the camp were offered to participate in sporting courses leading to the opportunity of employment in the sporting sector. The activity was fully funded by John Lyon’s Charity.

Emma Chambers, Director of Future Stars was very optimistic when she delivered her verdict: “The organisation of such activities is very important for us and very close to our heart. This project has allowed twenty young people to try new sporting activities to find something which interests them and speaks to them in their own language. Education needs to be delivered in a very flexible way and suitable to the audience. This is a project which can grow and we can have further engagement with these young people providing them with meaningful ways towards employment and full engagement with society”

Sara Constable, Coordinator of Ealing’s Youth Connection and Play Department followed suit with the following comment “The partnership between Future Stars and Ealing Youth, Connexions and Play service has created an opportunity for us to engage a mixed group of young people, in a varied and challenging programme. The team of coaches and youth workers have been able to hold the attention and commitment of some hard to reach young people from both the youth Justice service and the Brighter Futures. Looked after children’s programme, with young people who have in the past refused any kind of placements attending 80% of the sessions. I believe that the mix of disciplines, approach and content has engaged with and met the needs of these young people and created a foundation for us to build future programmes”.

To find out more about the activities of Future Stars Charity please click here.