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Youth Work Update
Generation hope youth weekend (and beyond)
In November last year, the older members of Generation Hope met together for a residential weekend at the Chellington Centre. Most of these young adults have been involved with Hope UK/Gen Hope for many years, and are now the ones who lead various exhibition stands for us. They also help with JCS and other sessions, so they are a very special group!
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They spent the weekend learning, eating, walking (a VERY long way—their choice) and playing an escape room game. They were delighted that Hannah, our former youth worker, was able to join them for the weekend.
As you may remember, Hannah left us last year to work on local, rather than national, youth work. So at the moment we are not sure what Generation Hope will look like going forward. We will continue to consult with the young people themselves, as we plan the next steps.
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Drugs, Life and You
We have an eight-session course that we can deliver to youth groups and in schools. Linked to the National Curriculum, the course covers the following subjects:
Drug awareness, decision making, relationships, confidence building, peer resistance skills, protective behaviours and self-esteem.
We have started delivering this course again this year—we have one course running in Swindon, with 11-12-year-old boys, and in Northwood Hills with young people age 11-14. Soon we will be starting a course in Sheffield.
Through a variety of games, activities and discussions, we aim to help young people develop their knowledge about drugs and life skills to help them navigate their way through various scenarios—not just drug related incidents.
Can we deliver this course to your group? If you are interested, contact us, or go to our website to find out more.
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Our Christmas Competition:
Design an adventure for Pokehu
Children aged 5-11 were invited to design an adventure for our window bear, Pokehu, and his friend, Donk. Winning entries were then replicated in our window display over the Christmas period. Congratulations to Eleanor, age 6, and Ruby, age 8, for their designs.
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This month we are giving up coffee (or tea or caffeine drinks) to raise money for Hope UK!
The aim of this (rather challenging) month is both to raise money for Hope UK, and to think about how difficult it can be for people giving up using drugs that lead to dependency.
It’s not too late to start—find out more at hopeuk.org/coffree
(Or you could sponsor one of us, if you would rather not miss out on coffee.)
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Online Courses - New Programme
We continue to offer our online sessions. Each one lasts one hour and costs £10.
You can book a place at our website: hopeuk.org/events
16th February 11am
An introduction to drugs [For parents, youth workers and others]
13th March 7.30pm
Vaping - is it OK for my kids? [for parents]
15th May 7.30pm
County Lines - what youth workers need to know [for churches]
8th June 11am
Drugs in your community – practical ideas for a local church
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Carol Singing
Every year we sing carols—either in Trafalgar Square or at St Pancras Station—to raise our profile, and funds. This Christmas we sang carols for two hours at St Pancras (warmer and drier!), while trialling our card machine for the first time. Staff, volunteers and Gen Hope members sang their hearts out, accompanied by Michele on the trumpet. We were joined by a few members of the public, and we noticed many people singing as they walked past! We were glad to see that our donations doubled from the last time we sang carols there—in Christmas 2019, the last time we were able to do this.
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All our supporters are welcome to join us next year—watch this space! (If you want to see a short video of our singing, go to Instagram (hopeukuk) or Facebook (HopeUKofficial).
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Volunteering with Hope UK
Hope UK, when it started many years ago, was run by volunteers. (It was known then as ‘The Band of Hope’.) Although we now have a small staff team, volunteers are still at the centre of all we do. Many charities have struggled to retain or recruit volunteers since the pandemic—and we have also been experiencing difficulties with this.
We have many volunteering opportunities, and we would so appreciate it if you could help us by spreading the word—do you know someone who would make a good volunteer? Below are the various ways someone can get involved—all training, support and expenses provided, so all they need to have is time and enthusiasm! Many of our volunteers have used their experience to help them find work, while others have brought their skills to us once they have retired.
Volunteer opportunities include:
Administration: We need help in our Kettering office preparing resources, keeping our database up to date, getting the right resources to the right people at the right time (!) and with many other admin tasks. Ideally you would have an amount of time to give each week/month, but we are happy to talk to anyone interested.
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Junior Citizens: If you would prefer not to commit yourself in the long term, but would be able to help us for a week or two once a year, we can train you to deliver our Junior Citizens presentations. You would work face to face with small groups of Year 6 pupils (age 10-11), for a whole or half day. You would need to have a DBS (criminal record) check, and provide references, as you will be working with young people. The training is a half day and then working with an experienced staff member/volunteer until you are confident—this is a fun and easy way to get involved with our work! We need people who can help in London and Surrey.
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Drug Educator: This is the most demanding way to get involved. You attend four training weekends (all accredited by the Open College Network) and learn how to deliver drug and life skills education to children, young people and adults. You become a local rep with Hope UK, delivering sessions and informal work in your community as appropriate.
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You choose how many hours you want to give, and the kinds of groups you are happy to volunteer with. You have a volunteer supporter to look after you, can work alongside other volunteers where possible, and have regular updating training. You would need to have a DBS check and provide references.
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Annual Meeting and Weekend
14th—16th April 2023
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Advance notice: Our AGM and Conference weekend will take place in person in 2023. The AGM will be on Saturday morning, 15th April, and we will make sure it is also online, so those of you unable to travel will be able to join in. If possible, we will also put some of our sessions online.
However, we would love you to join us! We will be at All Nations Christian College, Ware, Hertfordshire. The weekend is for all staff, trustees, educators, members and Generation Hope young people. As well as the AGM we will have training sessions, prayer and worship, games, food, networking opportunities and much more.
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Although we did many Junior Citizens presentations last year, it looks like we will be doing even more in 2023! We have already participated in JCS in Westminster (at the London Transport Museum!), Reigate, Newham, Croydon and Islington!
The Junior Citizens Scheme is a “fast-paced, multiple-agency event” run in some local authorities for Year 6 students (and occasionally Year 5s). Schemes can be run either by agencies such as the Metropolitan Police, TfL, or local borough councils. At a Junior Citizenship Scheme, there is a carousel of activities with up to ten different agencies delivering short sessions on topics relating to good citizenship. Pupils complete a circuit of scenarios in small groups, learning through experience and real-life risk situations that test their ability to make responsible decisions. The events last for half a day.
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Scenarios might include:
Travelling by bus
Travelling by Underground
Fire Safety (Fire Brigade)
Online Safety (Police)
Knife Crime awareness (Police)
What to do in an emergency –
Ambulance Service
Water Safety (RNLI)
Road safety teams
Basic Drug Awareness (Hope UK)
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Hope UK’s scenario:
In our session, we ask the pupils to identify a variety of substances and decide whether each one is ‘good for you’ or ‘not good for you’ and to say why. Each substance is chosen either because it is a substance they will come into contact with, or because it helps us with a specific message, often both.
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Substance / Key Message
Alcohol - CMO recommended age of drinking and low risk drinking guidelines
Cigarettes - Harmful chemicals, addiction, and harm to the body
Aerosol Can - Risk of fire, and danger of misusing the product (as a 'drug')
Nitrous Oxide - Health risks
Cannabis - Legal Issues: Consequences of using illegal substances, age of criminal responsibility and effect of having a criminal record. Mental health issues of some drugs
Cocaine -‘If you don’t know what’s in it, bin it.’
Medicines - Safe use of medicine, trusted adults
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Feedback Includes:
"Very informative and liked how she spoke with the children"
"I loved Hope UK’s workshop – I never knew about the warnings on aerosol cans. Our school needs Hope UK’s work."
"Your message was powerful and really needed for this age group"
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Head Office: Hope UK, 50 Gold Street, Kettering NN16 8JB
Charity number 1044475
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