KPC Youth News

DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN AGED 8 - 17 WHO NEED SOMEWHERE TO GO IN THE FEBRUARY HALF-TERM HOLIDAYS?

KPC Youth, the charity based in Pyle, but for all young people from the Cynffig area, is open daily during the February half-term holidays, from 10 am. The centre is open to young people aged 8+, and is also open again in the evenings from 5.30, with different times/nights for different age groups.

KPC Youth offers a wide range of on-site activities, including a great outdoor skate park, bmx track, multi-sports court, adventure play area, fantastic Digilab with internet access, music, arts/crafts, pool, table tennis and lots more!

During the February holidays the following activities and trips have been planned in addition to the above: Trip to see a Cardiff Devils Ice Hockey match, Fishing Trip, Graffiti Canvas Art Project, other Art workshops, and info/advice sessions. We also have Cardiff City out on the Tuesday afternoon to do a Soccer Skills Workshop session from 12 midday, including their inflatable goal.

The Centre is located next to Pil Primary School in Pyle, off Pyle Inn Way. in Pyle. Membership is just £1.50, with daytime and evening sessions costing £1 per session for members, £1.50 for non-members. If your child is aged between 13-17 years they will have Free Admission if they become members!

To find out more, why not call in at the Centre, or phone 01656 745399/749219 or email: kpcyouth@hotmail.com

THANKS FROM KPC YOUTH!

KPC Youth would like to thank everyone for joining them to mark their 10th Anniversary, at the event held at Pyle Life Centre on Saturday 8th November. The packed hall had a great atmosphere, and it was wonderful to see so many past members, supporters and friends of KPC attending.

Special thanks go to Louise Apsee - our fantastic Compere for the event, the Staff & Pupils of Mynydd Cynffig Junior School for supporting us, Hard to Beat Disco, Cynffig Flyers - Hip Hop Dancers, Bridgend band - Broken City Skylines - who kindly stepped in to support us at the last minute. In addition we would like to thank all our own members who performed a range of dance, songs and poems for us. Special thanks to the Staff of Pyle Life Centre for all their help with the event, as well as staff & volunteers who helped out on the night.

Thanks to everyone for their support over the past 10 years and here's looking forward to the next 10 years!

Young People in Cynffig Benefit From Splash Cymru!

During the Summer holidays, young people in Cynffig benefitted greatly from being able to undertake a wide range of activities and trips, helped through funding from the Youth Justice Board/Big Lottery’s Splash Cymru Programme, aimed at offering young people aged 13-17 years a programme of diversionary activities. This funding is allocated to KPC locally through the Bridgend Youth Offending Team.

During the Summer approx. 150 young people took part in the scheme through KPC Youth in Pyle, with around 100 in the age group 13-17 years. They were able to learn new skills such as fishing, golf, salsa/hip hop dance, pottery, drums, arts/crafts, gardening and many other activities. In addition trips out included Heatherton, Go-Karting, Cardiff City Football matches, and culminated in the ever popular Oakwood by Night. Young people were also given support in youth related issues, and participated in workshops and a wide range of sports activities.

The Centre opened daily Mon – Fri from 10 am – 10 pm, attracting many new members to the Centre. It is hoped that these new young people will continue to benefit from what KPC has to offer them, now that the scheme has finished.

KPC Youth would like to extend their thanks to the Youth Justice Board/Big Lottery and the Bridgend Youth Offending Team for their support once again this Summer, and to all the staff and volunteers who worked during the Summer for their hard work, stamina and commitment – not forgetting of course, all the young people who participated and had a great holiday!

To view this years Summer Splash photo album, click here

DIRECTOR'S INFORMATION SESSION

KPC Youth will be holding a Director’s Information Session at their Centre in Pyle on Mon 15th October 2007 from 6 – 8 pm. The session will be facilitated by Glen Bowen of Wales Cooperative and be a chance to find out more about the roles & responsibilities of being a Director, and the charity itself.

The charity is particularly seeking local business people, who may have the expertise to help them with future developments at the Centre.

For further information, please contact Alison Mawby on 01656 749219 or e–mail: kpcyouth@hotmail.com

TRAINING

KPC Youth offers a range of training for it’s staff & volunteers – if places are available, these are then opened up to other Voluntary Sector Organisations within the Borough. Forthcoming training includes:

Mon 8th & Mon 15th October 2007 – 9.30 – Midday – OCN Level 1 in Information for Young People, faciliated by Clic On–line

Mon 26 November 2007 – Alcohol & Young People, faciliated by Alcohol Concern

Tues 6 November 2007 – Peer Mentoring – This will run for approx 4 weeks from 6.30 – 8.30 pm, and is open to members and young people who are interested in becoming Peer Mentors

For further information on the above, please contact Alison on 01656 749219

KPC SUPPORTS MACMILLAN CANCER'S WORLD'S BIGGEST COFFEE MORNING

KPC Youth hosted a Coffee Morning on Fri 28 Sep to help raise funds for Macmillan Cancer. They would like to thank everyone who came along to support the event, especially the teachers & pupils of Pil Primary School who entertained us superbly with a range of songs. The event ended with "fun bingo" compered by Jen Heatley. KPC raised over £172 from the event for this very worthwhile cause.

UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL BENCH TO KPC YOUTH'S FOUNDER

KPC Youth, based in Pyle, was set up in 1998 by a local lady - Helena Parobij. Helena had sadly lost her son Brett to a drugs related incident and she didn’t want that to happen to other young people in this area, but wanted to give them somewhere safe & fun to go - off the streets, and to give them alternatives to drugs/alcohol & crime. The projects grown enormously since then, and the activities on offer have increased to meet the needs of young people. The project also offers advice, info & support to young people aged 8 - 25 years.

Sadly Helena died of cancer 2 years ago. In lieu of flowers at her funeral, many people donated towards having something to remember her by. At that time we were struggling for funding, and Helena’s father John said he didn’t want a bench put in an empty centre. We finally secured some further funding in late 2006 from the Big Lottery, so restarted the bench project. The bench design was by some of our young people, helped by one of our Youth Workers - Sian White. We contacted Iron Vein - Richard & Viki - who are based in Welshpool, to actually create the design, which is done in hand forged steel. The bench was erected only yesterday, so was unseen prior to the actual unveiling. The unveiling by the Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan, Mrs Kate Thomas, was followed by a mass balloon release where everyone had the opportunity to send a message to Helena. The evening was a happy occasion and a celebration of what Helena had achieved for the community and young people of this area.

KPC Youth would like to thank the Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan, Mrs Kate Thomas, for doing the unveiling, Connaught for supplying the external lighting, Helena’s family, friends and supporters who attended the evening. Supporters included Peter Black AM, Mr Roy Noble of BBC Radio Wales, Mayor of Bridgend Rosemary Deere, the Chair of the Pyle Community Council Mr Alan Jones, Mr Win Griffiths (former MP). It was also really good to see so many ex-members of KPC who are now adults themselves, who came back to remember Helena.

W.I.N Success!

latest "big news" - is that we have recently found out that we have been successful in our Big Lottery Bid for our "W.I.N" (What I Need) Project - this award is £300,000 over 3 years, and will help towards staff costs, and new developments to the project - including the provision of transport to bring young people from Cornelly to our Centre on 2 nights per week, promoting peer mentoring, and also to help us provide weekly "Topics of the Week" - on issues relevant to young people. This is fantastic news for us, and will give us a small breathing space to work on other developments planned on our grounds, to enable us to work towards partial sustainability for the future...

KPC Youth Win Film Award

KPC Youth won the Best Film and Short Factual Documentary at the BYSFA's (Bridgend Youth Service Film Awards) Second Event, last night (Fri 6th October 2006) - for their film "No Place To Go" - which was produced in conjunction with local multi media Company Subjective Realities. The short film was produced in the Easter Holidays 2006, funded by the Arts Council of Wales, in conjunction with the YJB Splash Scheme. The young people had a choice of what topic they wanted to cover, and they chose to depict their lives if KPC Youth was forced to close due to financial problems - the film shows life in the Cynffig area for them in Easter 2007, and what the potential consequences could be ... flashing back at the end to the life they had when the Centre had still been open.

KPC Youth would like to thank all the young people who took part, Mike & Rog of Subjective Realities for making it happen, and the funding from the Arts Council of Wales/YJB Splash Scheme.

Respect Award for Taking a Stand!

KPC Youth have just received a £1000.00 award from the Respect Award for Taking A Stand! - this is in recognition for the work and commitment we have put into tackling anti-social behavior and for making our community a better place to live in!