Young Ampthill 

Young Ampthill - Contents

Youth Activities in the Town | Volunteering Opportunities | Funding Opportunities for Youth Projects | Other Youth Resources | Hurricane Newsletter | What does the Ampthill Town plan say about Youth Issues?

Youth Activities in the Town

Ministry of Youth 

A Night Club for Young People aged 14 to 16 years at the The Cellar Bar (back of the White Hart), Dunstable Street was held every few months. Visit the Future Events Page for details of future 'Night Club' Night's. 

For tickets enquiries please contact your Extended Schools Co-ordinator, Jo Jefferson at Harlington Upper School, Amanda Ward at Redborne Upper School, or contact Jane Regan on 01462 611112 text 07971321269 or Nicola King 07717313868

Supported by Beds Police, Mid Beds District Council, Extended Schools, Ampthill Baptist Church, Aragon Housing Association, Ampthill Rotary Club, The White Hart

Youth Involving Groups:  

Youth Clubs

  • Baptist Church
  • Methodist Church

Youth Led Action Groups in Ampthill

Spark is a youth group from Ampthill and Flitwick. The group was established in 2004 and during their time they have organised a number of projects, activities and events for the young people of Mid Beds. This includes producing a pack for lower schools in healthy eating, producing a drama about alcohol and the effects of alcohol, fundraising events from a number of charities plus lots more. The group are currently focussing on global warming as their new topic. They are producing leaflets, bookmarks and posters aimed at 9-13 year olds.  

Competitive fitness trail

A new competitive fitness trail for 12-15 year olds in Ampthill Park play area. The installation of this equipment should be complete by 21st November 2008.

Volunteering Opportunities

Vinvolved Bedfordshire

V is the new youth volunteering scheme for 16-25 year olds! You'll find a local vinvolved team wherever you live in England. We are part of vinvolved, the new national youth volunteering programme, which aims to revolutionise youth action in England. vinvolved has now replaced the Millennium Volunteers programme in England.

Whatever you want out of volunteering your local vinvolved team can help you find it in your area. Your Youth Volunteer Adviser will provide a personalised service to match you with inspiring opportunities that fit into your life, further your ambitions and indulge your passions.
 
About our Vinvolved Bedfordshire Team

All the Vinvolved teams across the country are run by different organisations - our one is run by CSV (Community Service Volunteers). CSV are the UK's largest training & volunteering agency in the UK - the Volunteering Partners strand of work has a national full time volunteering team based in Birmingham and a central unit in London.  Each year, Volunteering Partners works with approximately 3,500 volunteers.

You're in good hands! - The team here in Bedfordshire has many years of experience within Youth Volunteering through the Millennium Volunteers program and Yu-Act scheme (one off volunteering challenge days) and has worked with over 500 young people throughout Bedfordshire helping them secure a voluntary placement and clocking up thousands of voluntary hours. In the past we have had volunteers reach over 1000 hours of voluntary work, nominated volunteers for awards with one lucky lady winning £500 through the Yopey Awards and volunteers being interviewed by the local press and on three counties radio!! We recognise all our volunteers and the hard work they do and we are always looking to nominate volunteers for local and national awards!

We cover the whole of Bedfordshire (excluding Luton as it is run by Vinvolved Luton, please contact the office for their contact details). You can join us if you live in Bedfordshire or attend school, college, University or work in the area!

Funding Opportunities for Youth Projects 

Streetcred (currently not accepting applications)

Young people in Ampthill could secure money for their projects by applying for a Streetcred grant.

Streetcred has been set up by Central Beds Council, is aimed at giving youngsters the chance to fund and organise youth activities where they live.

There are some rules that entrants need to consider when applying. But essentially, the cash is available to all young people aged 13 to 19 working on projects that promote positive activities for youngsters. This can include all sorts of activities, such as arts and music fun, a skate park, a youth club or a dance project. Once an application is submitted, the Streetcred grant panel, all aged between 13 and 19, decide if funding should be given. Anyone who wants to apply for Streetcred funding can do so by contacting Clare Hanley on 0300 300 6060 or email clare.hanley@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk for an application pack.  Applications for funding are considered every few months, so if you have a youth project in mind act now and put in an application.

Download:

Think Big - Small Funds for Local Projects by Young People

Think Big is a new funding scheme from mobile phone firm O2, developed in conjunction with youth charities National Youth Agency and UK Youth. It gives 13 to 25-year-olds the chance to apply for a £300 grant to fund projects aimed at addressing local issues identified by the young people themselves. Website: www.o2thinkbig.co.uk. 

Supporting Young People Fund

A grant making programme aimed at enabling positive activities and improving access to educational and employment opportunities

What is the Supporting Young People Fund? This is a fund aimed at community groups and charities who work with children and young people and which are based and operating in the Central Bedfordshire Unitary Authority area. 

What kind of projects can you apply for funds for? The fund will support projects that offer young people aged between 13 and 19 provision on Friday evenings and weekends and/or which offer accredited learning opportunities for young people (e.g. ASDAN, First Aid, Duke of Edinburgh Award) which result in:  

• Enabling young people to engage in positive activities;

• Enabling young people not in education, employment or training to reach a positive destination;

Projects which cut across more than one of these priorities will have an increased likelihood of receiving support. Projects must be able to demonstrate in their application what outcomes they will achieve with a grant and how many young people will benefit.

Bids must show a very clear and distinct link with the above criteria and preference will be given to those who target themes or areas of need.

How much can you apply for? A proportion of the fund is set aside to provide grants of up to £5,000. Some grants of up to £10,000 will also be considered, but there will be fewer of these and applicants will need to demonstrate exceptional outcomes in order to be considered.

Website: www.blcf.org.uk/grants/syp.php

Other Youth Resources

Hurricane - the Mid Beds Youth Newsletter

What is Hurricane? - Hurricane is a youth led magazine that goes out bi-monthly to young people and organisations across Mid Beds. The magazine is full of information on what to do, stories from volunteers and their projects, information about national issues, a section on 'a day in the life of' plus much much more. There are currently over 1,000 subscribers and have a small youth editorial team.

Hurricane are currently recruiting new editors!

So if you enjoy meeting new people, writing, photography, learning new things, helping the community or would just like to do some voluntary work then they would like to hear from you!

When does the Hurricane Youth Editorial Team meet?

The group will be meeting every Tuesday 4.00pm - 5.30pm at Central Beds Council offices, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, SG17 5TQ, FREE transport is provided by Central Beds Council via the Bedfordshire Transport Token Scheme. For more information please contact Katy Stafferton by phone 0300 300 8000.

How do I subscribe to Hurricane?

If you would like to subscribe and receive a FREE bi-monthly copy of Hurricane please call Katy Katy Stafferton on 01462611008.

Connexions Service

The Connexions Service is available at a range of different locations in Mid Bedfordshire. To find out where to find them visit www.connx.org.uk

Connexions is a free, confidential service which offers information, impartial advice, guidance and support to all young people aged 13-19 (and older for some young people with learning difficulties or disabilities).

Young people can talk to them about anything they need to: 

  • career ideas
  • applying for college or university
  • problems at home
  • applying for jobs
  • money
  • relationships 

A PA, or Personal Adviser, is someone who is trained to help young people deal with a range of issues.  If needed, and with the young person's permission, they can refer on to Specialist Advisers.

Connexions can help in a number of different ways:

  • On Line: You can search www.connx.org.uk for more information on local courses or jobs. It also provides links to connx4u, the Connexions virtual library containing information about careers, money and housing, among others.
  • In school or college: Your school or college will have a Connexions Library which you can use to research things for yourself. You will also have access to a Connexions Personal Adviser (PA) who can talk through issues that you may have. Ask your teacher or tutor how to contact one in your school or college.
  • In the community: You can see a PA in the community too. Connexions have centres and Access Points where you can meet with a PA to discuss your needs or issues. You dont always need an appointment and can just walk in. Call 0800 032 1319 or visit www.connx.org.uk to find your nearest Access Point.

Local Democracy Week

Local Democracy Week is a campaign between a wide range of organisations and acts as a focal point for young people, individuals and groups in promoting local democracy and community participation. The Local Democracy Campaign is all about getting young people, Councils and other groups to work together to change their community for the better, by providing leadership and ideas and examples of good practice. The campaign encourages the setting aside of stereotypes and prejudices.                                                                                                                               

Central Beds Council joined the campaign in 2003 and during this time the Youth Participation Officer has organised a number of activities and events for the children and young people of Central Beds. Each year the Youth Participation Officers organises a number of activities and events in the aim to:  

  • Encourage children and young people to voice their opinions on issues that matter most to them.
  • Provide the children and young people of Central Beds with more information on local democracy and politics and how it affects them.
  • Ensure that the Council devolves power wherever appropriate to young people.
  • Encourage more Councillors to get involved in youth participation and to support the young people of Central Beds.

During the last 5 years the Council's involvement in local democracy has grown more and more each year, with more activities, more young people's involvement and more changes across the district.

Bedfordshire Transport Tokens

Would you like to attend a youth club, youth project, or organised activity, but you can't get there because you have no transport, there are no buses, or you live in a rural area.

At Central Beds Council a scheme is running for young people aged between 8-19 years, who either live in Bedfordshire, or go to school in Bedfordshire.  If this is you, then you could benefit from a free taxi, train or bus to your project!

Youth projects, or organisations are given a pot of transport tokens (like plastic money) which they can then give to you to spend in taxi's, Thameslink or WAGN trains (First Capital Connect), or Stagecoach buses.  You can use the tokens just like normal money with any of these transport companies and get to your project, or club on Central Beds Council !

There are 25 different projects who are members of the taxi token scheme, ranging from: 

  • Home Education
  • YIP/YOT
  • Youth Service
  • Town Councils
  • Schools
  • Voluntary Sector Groups:
  • Theatre group
  • Scouts
  • Youth charity
  • youth led action projects
  • community gardens charity   

If you want to find out if your project has tokens, or you want more information on how you as a project can join the scheme, then call Katy Stafferton on 0300 300 8000.

Youth Matters Bedfordshire

Youth Matters likes to be constructive about saying yes to young people - even if this is a challenge both for the organization and for the young person; sometimes the choice to say yes is difficult, but it is always affirmative.

Youth Matters is committed to the well being of young adults who are in transition and who are facing a period of uncertainty associated with their adolescence.

Young people at Youth Matters are challenged to think positively about their future, allowing them to consider constructive options that enables; that develops self-esteem, improves personal integrity and builds self confidence.

Youth Matters (a 'not for profit' organization) is supporting and working with young adults who, in the main, are 'at risk' within the community.

If you want more information about our service please do not hesitate to contact us either by 'phone (01234 311811) or by email (support@youthmatters.info) and we will respond as soon as possible.

What does the Ampthill Town plan say about Youth Issues?

THE ISSUES

  • Publicity of activities.
  • Youth Club.
  • Skateboard Park.

ACTIONS

  • Investigate the options available for establishing a Youth Club.

THE VISION FOR THE FUTURE

  • An active community with modern recreational and sporting facilities.