Children North East are national founders and leaders of the Poverty Proofing initiative, and over the past ten years we have worked with schools and organisations across the UK to identify and overcome the barriers that children and young people from families with less financial resources face.

Now, we’re turning the tables and putting a spotlight on our own work, to ensure all our current structures and services meet the same high standards of inclusion we support others to meet. We believe that now is an important time to reassess, after the significant disruption and changes to the way we work that took place in the pandemic.

Our aim is to ensure that household income does not impact on people’s ability to work with us, access our services or get involved with the activities we run. We are committed to being accessible to citizens from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

As part of this process we are keen to hear what people (you!) have experienced of Children North East, and would appreciate it if you could complete the brief survey below to share your thoughts.

Complete the survey

If you know anyone who might also be interested in completing the survey, please feel free to share it with them, as we’d love this to get as many responses as possible.

We are pleased to share that we have been shortlisted in the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Social Change’ category in the North East Charity Awards.

The category, sponsored by Millfield House Foundation, celebrates organisations that are ‘amplifying the voices of the people they represent and driving social change’. Our nomination shared actions we have taken in response to the unique challenges of COVID over the past 12 months.

This action included quickly adapting our Poverty Proofing® programme, which helps schools make their activities inclusive to students from all financial backgrounds, to meet the challenges of schooling during COVID. Alongside this support, we distributed over 4,500 resource packs, and 300 laptops and tablets, to families finding it difficult to meet the needs of remote learning.

Our shortlisting also recognises our role promoting that the voices of children and young people are heard when it comes to decisions that impact them, such as the free school meals debate championed by Marcus Rashford.

Luke Bramhall, Poverty Proofing and Participation Service Manager at Children North East, comments, “We are delighted to be shortlisted in these Awards. The events of the last 18 months have moved the experiences of young people in poverty up the public agenda and this recognition will help us advocate and act for change in this space.”

More than anything, the shortlisting is a testament to the expertise, passion and hard work of every staff member, volunteer and collaborator of the charity. Not least as it took place in a period of such disruption to where and how we could work.

The winners of the North East Charity Awards will be announced on 20^th October.

Stowe Family Law wanted to support local charities after opening their Newcastle office. We are honoured that they have chosen to support Children North East with a generous donation of £300!

This donation will make a huge difference to many lives in the region as well as helping to fund our 28 unique projects in the North East. Here at Children North East we offer a wide range of support for babies, young people, families, schools and communities. These services include mental health support, therapeutic services, poverty proofing, community based services and domestic abuse services. We aim to help all children grow up happy and healthy and this donation will allow us to continue this important work.

“Stowe Family Law are proud to support Children North East with a donation towards their wonderful work with babies, children young people & families in the region. We would wholeheartedly encourage other local businesses to get involved and contribute in any way possible.” – Stowe Family Law Newcastle

Stowe Family Law are a team of compassionate family solicitors in the Tyne and Wear region: https://www.stowefamilylaw.co.uk/offices/newcastle/

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Stowe Family Law for their support of Children North East, our work can continue thanks to the donations from amazing supporters like you.

This year marks our 130th Anniversary! Donate to support our 130th Anniversary Appeal here – Our 130th Anniversary Appeal – Children North East (children-ne.org.uk)

Thank you!

Children North East celebrated our 130-year anniversary in 2022.

This year, competitors in our famous Sandcastle Challenge swapped buckets and spades for crafting and cardboard. Read on to learn which schools have been crowned our 2021 winners…

And the winner is…

This year, a traditional Sandcastle Challenge beach event was out of the question, so we asked schoolchildren across the region to channel their inner engineers and build the best bridge they could think of. The challenge was a tribute to Newcastle’s iconic landmark, the Tyne Bridge.

We are pleased to share that three schools have been crowned our 2021 champion builders:

• Broadway Junior School in Sunderland
• Cotherstone Primary School in Barnard Castle
• St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Jarrow

Winners were chosen by headline sponsors of the competition, Vistry Partnerships North East.

Challenge champions showcased their creativity and building skills.

Celebrating the talents of North East youngsters

In addition to earning a prize of £200 for their school, some of the children’s bridges will be put on display at Tynemouth Station from 22^nd September to the end of 2021, where the creations will be viewed by thousands of residents and visitors each week.

The annual Challenge usually sees over 1,700 children descend onto Tynemouth beach to show off their building skills. However, last July it was unable to go head for the first time in its 25 year history, due to the pandemic. Wanting to keep the spirit of the competition alive, we instead collaborated with schools to offer an exciting alternative, and our team have been blown away by the creativity and ingenuity of the classroom built bridges. They were also impressed by the number of young people including recycling and care for the environment in their designs.

Students from Cotherstone Primary School shared how they tackled the brief, “We made an arch, treetop bridge because some of us wanted to make an arch bridge and some wanted to do a treetop design. The bridge is for bikes and people to walk on and enjoy. We made solar panels to light up the bridge at dusk and at midnight, if anyone wanted to do a midnight bridge walk! It was really good fun making the bridge and we are very proud!”

Children take part in the traditional Sandcastle Challenge on Tynemouth Beach.

With the Sandcastle Challenge likely to return to its beach home in 2022, this years’ competition will stand out as a unique and exciting milestone in its history.

Want to take part in 2022?

If you would like to learn more about the 2022 Sandcastle Challenge or how to involved, contact us at [email protected].

Whilst Children North East is marking its 130th anniversary, two significant players in our charity’s history are also celebrating their 58th.

Douglas and Margaret with the Order of the British Empire medal

Douglas and Margaret Johnstone tied the knot in 1963 after meeting at Stannington Sanatorium near Morpeth. Stannington was the first sanatorium in England for children suffering from tuberculosis, which was established by the Poor Children’s Holiday Association (the charity that was renamed Children North East in 1988).

Douglas ran a Scouting group there in the late 1950s and fell in love with one of the nurses looking after the sick children that were treated at Stannington, aged between three and 16. That nurse was Margaret.

The couple’s lives became intertwined with our charity and Douglas eventually became its leader. Douglas received the OBE for his charity work at Buckingham Palace with a proud Margaret by his side. Today they still live in Morpeth. You can meet this wonderful couple In this short video, put together for us by Northumbria University journalism graduate, Sarah Storer.

Watch our video

Children North East celebrated our 130-year anniversary in 2022.

TV star Tim Healy has been in the recording studio for Children North East to read a specially commissioned poem that forms the backdrop to a film launched today (Monday July 5) to celebrate our 130^th anniversary.

The poem, titled, You’re Not Alone, has been penned by Geordie poet, Scott Tyrrell and the film has been made by South Shields-based Unified Films.

It is hoped the film will not only raise awareness but also much-needed funds for Children North East so that it can continue helping babies, children and young people in our region.

Chief Executive of Children North East, Leigh Elliott said:

“Covid has hit our beneficiaries hard at a time when child poverty rates in the North East are growing faster than anywhere else in the country outside inner city London. In parts of Middlesbrough, 46 per cent of children are living in poverty and in some areas of Newcastle it’s 45 per cent, these are also pre-Covid figures which is extremely worrying.

“At the same time, charities like ours are finding it harder to raise income because our usual mass participation fundraising events – such as our annual schools Sandcastle Challenge – can’t go ahead in the same way. So we hope our film, which demonstrates how we stand up for children, will remind people why we’re here and move them to support us.”

Tim, who is our valued Patron, travelled from his home in Cheshire to record the emotive poem at the Harbourmaster Production Studio in South Shields.

He said: “Both the poem and film are fantastic. Children North East has been supporting youngsters and their families since 1891 when a couple of chaps decided to take a bunch of kids out to the seaside for some fresh air and a bite to eat and, though it’s sad we’re still needed today, the main thing is we are still here for families.”

Scott with Tim at the recording studio

The charity was founded by shipowner’s manager, John Lunn and cashier to Newcastle Corporation, John Watson, both of whom were concerned about the health of poor children living in the Newcastle slums. Lunn wrote an open letter to the newspaper to Watson with a practical suggestion of how to help:

‘Are there any street lads in your Mission to whom a day at the seaside would be a treat? If so, we might organise a trip’

As a result of the letter, 120 Tyneside children enjoyed a boat trip on the river to Tynemouth. The idea caught the public’s imagination and soon weekly trips were being organised, paid for through public donations.

Today, our charity offers a wide range of support and in 2019/20 our staff created life changing differences for 3,921 babies, children and young people across the North East and further afield through 28 diverse projects from mental health counselling to supporting children who have suffered domestic abuse.

Geordie poet, Scott Tyrrell, said it had been an honour to have been asked to write the poem.

“The North East spirit is tremendous. We’re a mickey-taking lot but there’s something in our gut that compels us to lift up those who are struggling. I think that, most of all, is the message I’ve tried to get across in the poem.”

And Jon Burton, who runs Unified Films along with Ryan Gibson, added:

“It’s been such an enjoyable challenge to bring Scott’s incredible words to life, as well as to do justice to 130 years of Children North East, a charity that does such important work in support of babies, children, young people and their families in our region.”

“As well as the likes of Beamish offering up their amazing premises to the production, we’ve had such a dedicated and passionate cast and crew, all so aware of the importance of what we’re doing, and as such, giving it their absolute all. We’re very excited to share the film and tell the story of this wonderful charity!”

Support our 130th year appeal

Come behind the scenes of You're Not Alone

Children North East celebrated our 130-year anniversary in 2022.