Children North East are leading a partnership of local organisations to deliver a new community experience programme funded by NCS (National Citizen Service) supporting young people across the North of Tyne area. 

The grant is part of an exciting £20m funding package that NCS Trust have awarded to organisations across England providing community-based experiences at a local and grassroots level. These new experiences will provide opportunities for teenagers to engage in local activities that foster skills development, deepen their understanding of the community, and empower them to contribute positively to its improvement.

In collaboration with the National Youth Agency and StreetGames, the project was chosen from over 400 applications, allowing the partners to deliver year-round, community-based opportunities and experiences for any young person aged 16-17 years old wishing to get involved.   

The programme will get underway in late summer 2023 delivering positive activities such as sports, adventurous and outdoor pursuits and creative arts and crafts; designed to be fun, engaging, challenging and enriching. Every young person will get the chance to participate in three ‘experiences’ focusing on giving young people access to opportunities that will develop their life skills and support independent living, increase their employability and work readiness and give them a space to be involved in volunteering and developing a youth-led social action project that benefits their community.  

Children North East is pleased to be working with experienced local organisations, including Newcastle United Foundation; Newcastle College; Off The Grid Adventures; Streetwise; Our1Community; Northumberland Wildlife Trust; Nourish Food School; The National Trust and Seaton Delaval Hall; Success4All and The Enterprise Academy. Each member of the partnership brings unique experience and expertise to youth provision and are committed to working with young people to improve their access to opportunities and experiences that will power their future success. 

Mark Gifford, CEO of NCS Trust, added: “I am delighted to welcome a diverse range of local, grassroots and community organisations from across the youth sector to deliver reimagined NCS experiences. This allows us to reach more young people than ever before, ensuring they are equipped with the skills and perspective to become work ready and world ready. Additionally, our grants for targeted experiences will enable us to reach underserved young people and communities.” 

Over the past decade, more than 800,000 young people have benefitted from an NCS experience, dedicating over 18 million hours to community based social action, while gaining invaluable life experiences. 

For more information about our NCS ‘Open to All’ Community Experiences in the North of Tyne area and how to get involved in opportunities local to you, please contact Una Mac Dermott (NCS Project Coordinator) who would be pleased to put you in touch with one of our local delivery partners at [email protected].

For one North East family, history has come full circle, with a daughter working with the same charity which saved her mum’s life 70 years ago. Sarah Bell is part of the team at Children North East, supporting local families and young people to grow up happy and healthy. The charity also established and funded services at Stannington Sanitorium in Morpeth, which her mum Brenda Bell stayed with to recover from tuberculosis in the 1950s. 

In September 1953, 13 year-old Brenda was diagnosed with TB, a memory which stands out because it was a time people rarely used healthcare services – so a doctor’s visit meant something was very wrong. She soon left her family in Darlington to receive treatment at Stannington Sanitorium, which would become her home for the next 14 months.  

Opening in 1907, the sanatorium was the UK’s first purposely built hospital for children with tuberculosis. In the 50s, the infection was responsible for 1 in 20 deaths across the country, but rates were much higher in the North East. Until the NHS took on the costs of running the Sanitorium, it was funded by local charities, including its founders Children North East, then named the Poor Children’s Holiday Association. 

Despite not being able to see her family often, it’s a time Brenda talks about fondly. “I don’t remember all the details, but there were wards of about 20 of us and we mostly stayed in those groups. Girls in one part of the building, boys down in a different ward. It wasn’t like today, you didn’t have TV and internet for entertainment but we weren’t in bed all the time, we were outside and went to school. We did the same things any young people then would do really, except then you would have to rest a lot.” 

She made friends, including two girls, Margret from Benwell and Dorethy from Darlington, who she has lost touch with over time. They would go on walks together in the local countryside, supervised by staff. One particularly fond memory includes a Christmas trip out to the theatre, where she got to meet Reg Varney from ‘On the Buses’, whose autograph she still has today. 

Although she doesn’t remember it feeling serious at the time, archive letters shared with Brenda by the Woodhorn Museum highlighted the seriousness of the condition at the time for children affected by it. They read, ‘one does not look very far into the future. So much depends on her home, the sort of life she leads and the work she takes up’. Reflecting on the letter Brenda shares, “It could have been different if you didn’t have good food. You might not have survived.” 

Fast forward to 2023 and the story has a new chapter, with Brenda’s daughter Sarah working with the charity on the frontline of young people’s health. Currently she works delivering its Ways to Wellbeing project, that provides help to parents and carers supporting their children through mental health challenges.  

“One of the most rewarding parts of my work is when you meet a young person or a parent and they are in a difficult place – but when you get to the end of the journey with them you can see they leave feeling more confident to tackle challenges and also less isolated. 

“Mental health is one of the biggest health challenges faced by young people today, like TB would have been back then. It feels like this story has come full circle!” 

When asked if she thought much had changed for the generation of young people Sarah works with, Brenda shared, “When I was there [at the Sanitorium] people just had to get on with it. I didn’t see my family much, because my mum would have had to get two or three buses. Today we can speak to each other even if it’s on the phone.”  

She also said she is proud of Sarah, “It’s really good what she does for the young people, it seems like they have a lot to worry about today, more than we did, and she makes a big difference. I’m very proud”. 

This summer teams across the charity have been delivering an exciting calendar of events for children, young people and families; bringing together new and existing groups for food, friendship and of course…fun! In this photo series we share some of the magical moments that have this summer so special.

A day at Tynemouth beach is a chance for some serious playtime and sweet treats. Parents, carers and little ones joined in the fun for one of the biggest beach picnics in our history!

Some our HAF group take a big leap at Shiremoor Adventure Park.

A trip to National Trust Wallington is a chance to get stuck into nature, with highlights including learning skills around the fire and… squirrel races!

For some young people, the summer started with their first ever PRIDE march (undeterred by the rain). How much do you love the banner they created?

A trip to St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay also saw a rock pooling expedition. Shell, yeah!

Some of our allotment crew went exploring one of the North East’s biggest gardens, Gibside. Foraging and bird watching were on the agenda, with lots of inspiration to bring back to their Benwell space.

Between October 2020 and July 2022, Children North East and Newcastle University joined forces to deliver VOICES Project, a consultation with almost 2,000 children and young people living in the North East, in particular is areas of high deprivation. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, VOICES used coproduction methods, such as drawing, writing, comic book making and video creation to explore how their lives had changed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A final report was produced, sharing findings and learnings.  

Yet the question remained, what was to be done with the thousands of artworks created by children and young people that captured first-hand their experiences of living through the pandemic? How they felt, what they got up to, how it changed their relationships. In our latest blog, VOICES Project contributor Kat Bevan explains what makes this cultural archive so important and what it was like taking such a unique piece of history on the road, touring an exhibition across space in the North East connected to children and young people. 

The VOICES exhibition is a testament to the resilience and creativity of children and young people in economically disadvantaged areas across the North East. Those whose lives have been deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and resource divide. Those who faced exceptional, often compounded challenges of domestic abuse, crime, disruption to their education, online abuse, hunger and food insecurity, inadequate housing and homelessness, social isolation, financial hardship, and the stress and uncertainty of the lockdowns (VOICES Project, 2021). Each factor has profoundly impacted their overall physical and mental health and wellbeing, with potentially long-lasting effects (Maciolek and Bou, 2020). 

The heart and soul of the exhibition were the artworks created by children and young people. Their inner worlds were laid bare through drawings and writing, a mosaic of emotions and experiences vividly depicting their realities, unfiltered and raw. Together, the artworks made a tapestry woven with vibrant threads of imagination, illustrating the profound impact the pandemic had on their lives. Breathing life into their thoughts through several prompts – what brought joy to their lives, what caused them distress, and what held utmost importance – their responses unfurled onto the paper with poignant honesty. A symphony of their funny, sophisticated and heartbreaking thoughts, hopes and concerns. The joy and innocence captured in the vibrant colours of their depictions of virtual and physical playgrounds, friendships and family life contrasted starkly with the dark shades and heavy strokes, portraying isolation, longing and loneliness.  

Moreover, the North East is a region of contrasting landscapes – from picturesque, rolling fields interwoven throughout the rural areas to towns of rich, often overlooked, industrial heritage, like Ashington, Hartlepool and Stanley, to metropolitan post-industrial spaces that have instrumentalised the creative economy for urban regeneration, or cynically, beautification (Mould, 2018), such as Newcastle and Middlesbrough. Each has entrenched social and economic deprivation and has drastically increased child poverty since 2014/15 (NECPC, 2023). These conditions are the harsh reality of these young lives. Through their eyes and voices, their artworks bared individual stories and collective struggles, offering a powerful lens to interpret and understand the region’s complexity.  

In developing the exhibition, the significant increase in child poverty across the North East in recent years weighed heavily on my mind. The stark fact is that 35% of babies, children, and young people are below the poverty line, with some areas like Middlesbrough exceeding 40% (NECPC, 2023). Likewise, the connection between poverty and poor health outcomes among children and young people is undeniable yet avoidable (RCPCH, 2023). Living in poverty harms their mental and physical health and wellbeing, making them considerably more likely to suffer acute and chronic illnesses (RCPCH, 2023). The VOICES research that illuminated this link with the artworks was etched in my mind. These children were battling economic challenges and fighting for their physical and mental health in a society stacked against them, making the urgency of the exhibition even more apparent. 

The VOICES team carefully selected the venues to house the artworks to ensure the exhibition was accessible. These venues hosted the children’s and young people’s voices, creating space for them to see their accounts represented in places that hopefully resonated with their daily lives: libraries, youth centres and schools. Libraries hold the promise of knowledge. Youth centres echo shared stories and a sense of belonging. Schools represented challenge and learning.  

To begin with, however, finding accessible spaces that align with Children North East’s Poverty Proofing® criteria proved challenging. We set up the exhibitions in the backdrop of substantial, damaging yearly cuts to libraries, youth centres and schools since 2010 (YMCA, 2020; CIPFA, 2023; Unison, 2023). Consequently, these safe youth-focused spaces have faced ongoing significant challenges, impeding the quality of and access to education, services and facilities (YMCA, 2020; CIPFA, 2023; Unison, 2023). Thus, demonstrating the importance of such spaces hosting VOICES. Subsequently, accessible venues in County Durham, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and North Tyneside exhibited the artworks. 

Embarking on this journey, my aim was clear: ensure these young voices were heard and represented. Setting up the exhibition was not just about curating artworks; it was about building bridges between these children’s and young people’s voices and the influential figures who could make an active difference. The artworks stood as a testament to the impact of the resource divide, the trials and triumphs of young souls navigating a world in turmoil, and a beacon of hope for change to make even the most established policymakers, business leaders and community organisers pause and reflect. They needed to see beyond statistics, headlines and adult interpretations of the world to understand the lived experiences behind the artworks. Only by connecting these worlds could we hope to bring about meaningful change; it is up to those in positions of power to respond with empathy and action. 

References

CIPFA (2023) ‘Press release: library expenditure in Great Britain falls 17%’. 2 March 2023. Available at: https://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/press-release-library-expenditure-in-great-britain-falls-17-percent (Accessed: 21 August 2023). 

Maciolek, A. and Bou, C. (2020) Children in Lockdown: The Consequences of the Coronavirus Crisis for Children Living in Poverty. The Childhood Trust. [Online]. Available at: https://www.childhoodtrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Children_in_Lockdown_Report_Authored.pdf (Accessed: 10 August 2023). 

Mould, O. (2018) Against Creativity. London: Verso. 

NECPC (2023) Facts & Figures. Available at: https://www.nechildpoverty.org.uk/facts/ (Accessed: 7 August 2023). 

RCPCH (2023) Child health inequalities driven by child poverty in the UK – position statement. Available at: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/child-health-inequalities-position-statement (Accessed: 7 August 2023). 

Unison (2023) Cuts since 2010 have cost pupils £5,000 each in lost education. [Online]. Available at: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/2023/05/cuts-since-2010-have-cost-pupils-5000-each-in-lost-education/#:~:text=Independent%20analysis%2C%20commissioned%20by%20the,remains%20significantly%20below%202010%20levels. (Accessed: 21 August 2023). 

VOICES Project (2021) Covid disruption and the resource divide: interim evidence from children and young people in the North East. Children North East and Newcastle University. [Online]. Available at: www.voicesproject.co.uk (Accessed: 10 August 2023). 

YMCA (2020) Out of Service: A Report Examining Local Authority Expenditure on Youth Services in England & Wales. YMCA. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ymca.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/YMCA-Out-of-Service-report.pdf (Accessed: 21 August 2023). 

This year Children North East is running the first-ever Voices of Hope Awards – which will celebrate children and young people who go above and beyond to make life better for other their peers.  

For the School Day Champion Award, sponsored by Primula Cheese, the charity is asking teachers, school staff, parents and carers to nominate a child or group of children who are making school a better place to learn, play and make friends.  

Do you know a group of pupil working on a special project to make their school a better place? Has a classmate been an amazing friend this year? Do you know a student who goes out their way to be kind?  

Every pupil or group nominated will receive a certificate and a personal communication celebrating how fantastic they are. 

To nominate your School Day Champion all you need to do is email or post their name, age, school and up to 150 words on how they make the school day better (pictures and video also welcome!). 

The deadline for nominations is 10th September.  

Email: [email protected] 

Post: Billie Jenkins, Children North East, 89 Denhill Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE15 6QE 

The Voices of hope Awards are made possible by our fantastic headline sponsors, Countryside Partnerships North East

The outstanding support provided by the children and young people we work with will be recognised at the inaugural Voices of Hope Awards this Autumn. 

Alongside the Awards headline sponsor, Countryside Partnerships North East, and a host of other local organisations, we are coming together to honour the inspiring children and young people who volunteer their time and speak up to help make life better for others across the charity’s 65 services. 

Projects in which awards nominees have taken part include ‘peer mentoring’ and working with local organisations to improve services and access for children living with disability. 

Leigh Elliott, Chief Executive of Children North East, said, “It is incredibly moving to see how much passion and time the children and young people we work alongside give to improving the lives of others . We felt it was time to put a spotlight on their inspiring contributions and give their stories a platform.” 

Countryside Partnerships North East’s sponsorship marks a significant milestone, with the regeneration specialist having donated £75,000 to Children North East to date. 

Christine Curran, Sales Director for Countryside Partnerships North East, added: “As a company we work with a number of charities, but Children North East is particularly poignant, because it is local to us and. it is great to see young people and their families, within the communities in which we work, benefit from the help available.” 

North of Tyne Combined Authority, Primula Cheese, Nucha and Irwin Mitchell are some of the organisations supporting the awards, to be staged in October, through sponsorship and support. 

Awards categories include: 

• Mental Health Champion, sponsored by North of Tyne Combined Authority, for a young person supporting better mental health for young people
• School Day Champion (open to all), sponsored by Primula Cheese, for a pupil or pupils going above and beyond to make the school day better for their peers. 
• Sustainability Champion, sponsored by Nucha, for an individual or group passionate about protecting our planet. 
• Stronger Families Champion, sponsored by North of Tyne Combined Authority, for those helping shape experiences that promote stronger families such as fun activities or raising awareness about support. 

Other categories include a Young Carer Champion, Champion Peer Mentor and Diversity Champion. 

North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll said: “Our child poverty prevention programme is working with 90 schools to reduce inequalities and ensure that our youngsters have the best possible start in life. We help schools to provide mental health and wellbeing support for young people. These awards recognise the diverse and wonderful ways in which children and young people are making an impact with their peers. Best of luck to all the nominees – the future is theirs – let’s celebrate their achievements.” 

Alongside being honoured at a celebration ceremony, winners will get the chance to share their stories in a specially commissioned film, which the charity hopes will inspire other young people to get involved with activities in their communities. 

Nominate your School Day Champion! 

As part of the Awards, we’re asking parents, carers, teachers and school staff to nominate a child or group of children who are making school a better place to learn, play and make friends as a School Day Champion. Find out how and apply now >

Pictured: Christine Curran, Sales Director for Countryside Partnerships North East take part in a Children North East session at our Cowgate Families and Parenting Center