Author: GYC

Launched in 2018, the SoGlos Gloucestershire Lifestyle Awards have grown to become the biggest celebration of the county’s lifestyle sector – with 2023 marking the exciting sixth year of SGGLA. This year was our first time applying as we thought we had lots to proudly shout about in our 30^th Anniversary year!

It was a real pleasure to attend the awards ceremony at Dunkerton’s Organic Cider last week – where we were able to try some of the great food options and mingle with the guests from the best and most forward-thinking businesses and organisations from across the county.

It was an exciting evening hearing all the winners and runners-up for the different categories announced and seeing the happy winners collect their awards – the charity award was one of the last to be announced so the anticipation kept on building as the evening went on!

We were delighted to be announced as highly commended finalists of the charity award and are so grateful to everyone who voted for us. It is a wonderful way to start the celebrations for our 30^th anniversary year.

Thanks to SoGlos for putting on a great event, the young adult carer who attended with us had a really enjoyable evening and especially loved the goody bags we were sent home with filled with exciting samples from Gloucestershire businesses!

During Carers Week in June we were invited by Carers Trust to attend a Parliamentary Drop-in for MPs where they could come meet carers organisations and hear directly from carers themselves.

Young Adult Carer Chandra, 17, travelled to Westminster with Development Manager Hana Gill – ready to share her story with those at the very top of decision-making.

Over 100 MPs attended the event over the afternoon – and Chandra was able to talk directly with many of them – including Lord Young, Mel Stride (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) and Paul Blomfield who heads up the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for young and young adult carers.

Chandra and Hana were able to persuade some of the MPS to sign the pledge developed by Carers Trust, the APPG and Young Carers Alliance, which looks at the key priorities that will create meaningful change.

We are proud that Gloucestershire already has school leads in place and were able to share the impact of this with MPs and encourage them to make this standard practice across the UK.

Development Manager, Hana Gill said: ‘Chandra did an incredible job of sharing her personal story of being identified as a young carer and the challenges she faced at the time and what the support GYC gave meant to her. She also shared with MPs how she has valued the opportunities she has had with GYC to talk directly to those that have the power to make changes and improve things for young carers.  She was the only under 18 in the room and was so confident and composed she made quite an impression on those she spoke to.’

We will continue as an organisation to campaign for positive change with and for young carers and were pleased we had this amazing opportunity to go right to the heart of Westminster and tell it like it is!

Mandy has worn many hats at GYC originally joining the charity to develop services for young carers aged 8 – 11. From this work, Mandy recognised the challenges young carers caring for someone with mental ill health face and over the years has developed a range of innovative and ground-breaking services that have made a huge difference to the lives of young carers in Gloucestershire and been acclaimed nationally and internationally – Us Too, Interact, Children and Parent days, a number of resources such as ‘Minds, Myths and Me’ and recently Kidstime.

A further innovation was extending these services to support young carers impacted by parental substance misuse, in particular the ‘Mosquito Mission’ a group of young carers who have made a huge impact in training professionals how best to support young carers winning the Children and Young People Now Award for Young Peoples Participation. The following quote inspired the group’s name:

‘If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.’ Dalai Lama

Mandy’s role within the Leadership Team of GYC has seen the organisation grow in strength culminating in securing investment through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Youth Strategic Investment Fund, setting the charity on a secure path for the future.

‘Mandy has bought innovation, creativity and a high standard of service delivery and leadership over 25 years. It would be hard to overstate her contribution to young carers and GYC. She will be greatly missed but has left a great legacy. But perhaps most of all we will remember the laughter, fun and passion that Mandy bought to the team.’ – Ele Semadeni, Operations Manager

Sam has written about her experience volunteering with GYC…

Why did you decide to volunteer for GYC?                                                                 

I like working with children and young people.  I believe that everyone should have the same opportunities in life, and I like to put something into the community. 

It would be great if you could share how you felt going along to the group for the first time and returning as a group volunteer after a break.                                 

I was a little nervous but also excited to get started but was made to feel really welcome by GYC team and the young people. 

What kind of things do you get involved with?                                                                 

I get involved with crafts, sports, supervising, talking to the young carers.  I enjoy working with the young people one to one and of course we have to do housekeeping.

How does volunteering make you feel?     

Volunteering with GYC has taught me a lot about myself – it makes you see life from a different viewpoint, especially when the young carers talk about their life and what they are going through.   I enjoy giving my time with GYC.

What would you say to anyone else thinking about volunteering with GYC?       

It’s great that as a volunteer I feel valued.  You do a great job GYC.

We asked Khadija, lead worker at our Gloucester Young Carers Group, what it means to have volunteer support:

‘Sam has honestly been such an invaluable gem at group, with her sleeves rolled up she is not afraid to get stuck in with the children, who I know really adore and appreciate the energy she brings. With the privilege of an extra hand in group, children get more 1-1 and it also allows us to provide more activities. With three adults we can have one adult baking with a small group of children, one at a crafty table and the third able to take the children outside in to the garden.’ – Khadija Hansdot, Junior Keyworker

To find out more about becoming a group volunteer please click here for the role description.

If you would like to volunteer for GYC please get in contact with Sue Auld, our volunteer coordinator today by emailing sue@glosyoungcarers.org.uk or calling the office on 01452 733060.

We would love to hear from you.

Our friends and neighbours at Optimising IT have announced they are extending their charity partnership with Gloucestershire Young Carers for a further year. News which we are thrilled to hear after such a fantastic 12 months working together.

Since the partnership launched in July 2022, the team at Optimising IT have helped raise more than £6000 to help support our work with and for young carers in the county.

The team have undertaken a variety of activities to fundraise for GYC and promote the work of the charity across Gloucestershire over the last 12 months. Activities have included an intrepid team of 5 colleagues bravely skydiving from 13,000ft, a sold-out quiz night with 30 businesses attending from across the county and lots of exciting opportunities for young carers to enjoy matches at Cheltenham Town Football Club as part of their sponsorship of the local club. One young carer who attended a match and got to meet and interview players said, “it was the best day of my life!”

As well as supporting the charity financially, colleagues have volunteered by attending young carer events such as our careers event YAC Futures for young adult carers, where they inspired the next generation about a future in IT if they so choose. Chairman Geoff Smith also attended our important London School of Economics event to find out “What works for Young Carers”.

Commenting on the extension of the partnership with GYC, Managing Director of Optimising IT Todd Gifford said “We’re delighted to support Gloucestershire Young Carers as our charity of the year for a second year. The work GYC do to support local young people is inspirational and we’re proud to be a small part of that. The Optimising IT team have enjoyed taking part in fundraising activities over this last year and we are excited to plan more activities for the coming year. It’s an exciting time to be working with the GYC team as they enter their 30^th year and look towards supporting the young people of Gloucestershire for the next 30.”

Ele Semadeni, Operations Manager at GYC expressed her sincere gratitude to the team “As we mark the first year of our partnership, I want to thank everyone at Optimising IT for their fundraising and awareness raising efforts which will have a long-lasting impact on our services and those who need our support.

“I am delighted our partnership has been extended for a further year, until July 2024, so we can build on our work together as we enter our 30^th Anniversary celebrations in September. We can’t wait to see what we will achieve together in the next 12 months.”

Colleagues and customers from stores across the Forest of Dean region have been supporting young carers in the county as part of a successful partnership with Gloucestershire Young Carers.

The partnership, initially set up for three years, was extended 4 times due to it’s success and is now coming to a natural end this July. Throughout the partnership, Midcounties Co-operative have provided support to GYC through employee and customer fundraising, corporate donations, gifts-in-kind like food and supplies for respite groups and events as well as volunteering and pro bono support.

Sally Gillespie, Fundraising Manager for GYC said:

“Thanks to this really successful partnership with Midcounties and their generosity, passion for the cause and a shared vision to support young carers in Gloucestershire, we have been able to support 100’s of young carers. Despite all the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the fundraising efforts have been truly impressive including skydiving, walking on hot coals and so many instore themed activities. As the partnership comes to an end, we would like to say how grateful we are for the passion and ongoing commitment to GYC shown by everyone across the Forest of Dean Region, which has enabled us to reach a fantastic target of £50,000.

Sally Gillespie

On the 8^th May, Georgia, Emily and Nicola attended a special service at Gloucester Cathedral to celebrate the Kings Coronation and be part of the Big Help Out, a day where charities and volunteers were acknowledged for the help they offer in their communities.  We were all excited because after the service we had been invited to meet HRH Princess Anne! We arrived quite early so we could be shown where to sit and when to leave the service to meet Princess Anne. Georgia remembers HRH arriving through the big doors at the back of the Cathedral and people all trying to see her from where they were sitting. There were lots of other charities there and people from the Cathedral dressed in their fine robes. We all enjoyed the music from the Music Works during the service. A lady sang Set Fire to the Rain by Adele – we played it in the car and had a sing on the way home. 

We left the service early to go and take our spot to wait for HRH to come and speak to us. We were waiting where they filmed Harry Potter which was fun as we are all fans. As Princess Anne walked towards us Georgia and Emily both remember being a little nervous, but that she was really nice. She shook our hands and asked a couple of questions about Gloucestershire Young Carers and the things Emily and Georgia had done with us. Emily remembers thinking that she looked like the Queen. 

We had a lovely day! Thank You Emily and Georgia for representing GYC so beautifully and Thank You to all those who volunteer and support our charity and young carers in so many different ways.

Gloucestershire Young Carers are gearing up for Carers Week which runs from 5^th-11^th June 2023 and  involves charities organisations and individuals getting together to show support for the millions of unpaid carers in the UK and to spread the word about the challenges they face.

The theme this year is ‘recognising and supporting carers in the community’ and we want to make sure that the contribution made by young and young adult carers aged 8-24 is not forgotten.

Here are some of the things that we will doing mark the week:

Listen out for us on BBC Radio Gloucestershire with Mark Cummings all week as we will be taking part in the breakfast quiz each morning at 8.45am.  We are not sure how good our local knowledge is but we are looking forward to getting stuck in, having a go, and making some noise about young carers!

On Weds 7^th June one of our young adult carers will be going to the Houses of Parliament to speak to MPs who are part of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for young carers to talk directly to them about her experiences as a carer, and to share how she thinks young carers can be better identified and supported.

GYC will also be representing at CarersHub Drop-In Event at the Pavilion Cheltenham on the 7^th June which is open to carers of all ages.

We are also getting involved in the ‘I Care’ campaign through the Carers Trust website – where everyone can get involved in sharing their caring story.

Happy Carers Week to all carers across Gloucestershire and their supporters!

We were really happy to help organise and attend the 2^nd face to face meet up of Young Carers National Voice (YCNV) in Birmingham last month.

At the very first meeting of the group back in Feb 2020 little did we know that the global pandemic would mean that Zoom became our meeting place for the next few years!

Young Carers National Voice brings young carers activists from across the UK to campaign on issues that are important to them. It is a collective voice for young carers who want to raise awareness and improve services for all.  Over the last three years it has developed three separate campaigns and shared resources on a number of different issues – for example an identification guide for schools to help identify hidden young carers and give education staff the confidence to talk to young people about their home lives and caring responsibilities.

It was brilliant to come together face to face as a group once more and discuss ideas for our next campaign over the coming year.    To see all the young carer activists from across the country and hear all their ideas (and their different accents) was so inspiring! This year the campaign is about the impact of caring on young carers’ mental and physical health and what can be done to prevent and alleviate this.

Arthur, one of YCNV members from Gloucestershire,  describes how ‘I thought it was a really good meeting up with loads of different young carers and getting our opinions heard – it was so much better speaking in person than through an ipad or laptop” .

If you are a young carer who would like to get involved in helping create positive change for all young carers please get in touch with our Youth Participation Officer lucy@glosyoungcarers.org.uk.  

We are very lucky to have many incredible volunteers to call upon to support the work of Gloucestershire Young Carers.  From volunteers who sit on our board of trustees, the knowledge, expertise, and experience that the trustees bring to the GYC is invaluable enabling the staff team to deliver support effectively and safely to young carers across the county. 

Volunteers who support our lead workers by assisting and interacting with young carers during their weekly group and at events organised for young carers. Helping to support the ‘young’ in young carer.  Volunteer drivers who give up their time to transport young carers ensuring they do not miss out on activities.  And to our newly appointed Community Ambassador helping to raise the awareness of GYC.

Sending a great big thank you to all our amazing volunteers, you are a very important part of the team at Gloucestershire Young Carers.  I hope you realise how grateful everyone is for giving us your most valuable asset – your gift of time.  Your support allows us to continue to grow and developing to meet the ever-changing needs of young carers in the county.

Sue Auld
Volunteer Coordinator

If you would like to volunteer for Gloucestershire Young Carers or just have a question, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch by emailing mail@glosyoungcarers.org.uk or call and speak to Sue Auld on 01452 733060.