Helping young people find their feet in life is satisfying - Carl Les
I wrote at length last week about the satisfaction there is to be found in working with young people, at the start of their careers, taking their first steps in the world of work. Teachers must feel this on a constant basis as they see their fledglings prepare to fly.
I experienced it only as a small employer and a customer, but that was fairly constant too. For many this was not their chosen career, it was a step to earn some additional, almost, pocket money, a weekend or a holiday job, but it still comprised essential lessons that could be carried into later life.
That was the value of businesses like my family’s, where we went from ticking over to flat out at different times of the week and seasons of the year. However for others, it was the first step in a career path that would lead to greater experience, improving skillsets and for many promotion, for some to the very top. That is the value of initiatives like the Hospitality Junior Board.
Of course youth is not only about work, and the preparation for it. For many of us there were carefree moments that would soon be overtaken by that well worn phrase that our elders used – responsibility.
I’ve been privileged to be connected for nearly 20 years now to a leisure activity that has youth at its heart. Like most organisations do, North Yorkshire Youth (NYY) based at Carlton Miniott outside Thirsk, has a mission statement. Ours is to help children and young people realise their full potential by enhancing and improving our range of learning and development opportunities.
At our recent AGM we were pleased to welcome back former Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Lord Crathorne, a previous President of NYY, standing in for his daughter who is the current President but who was away at the time. The Crathorne family have a huge connection with NYY, ever since Lord Crathorne`s mother started the organisation in the grounds of her home in 1941.
Here was an excellent example of true altruism, not saying ‘something should be done about this, somebody should do something’, but rather ‘something should be done about this, and I`m going to do it’. We`ve moved on somewhat from the lawn of Crathorne Hall near Yarm, relocating to Carlton Lodge outside Thirsk in 1968, to a farmhouse style property with a couple of exciting and appealing brick ponds, but the ethos of ‘we`re going to do something’ remains.
Although with my hospitality background I`m much more in tune with the hard and soft facilities at the Lodge, a large part of our work is delivered away from there in the localities where our young customers live.
We support young people in larger group work, small group work and sometimes one-to-one. Whether it`s attending one of our 17 youth clubs, and 6,372 did last year, or an NYY supported voluntary club, or if a young person is struggling with well-being we have a Buddy scheme and an Independent Visitor scheme.
Youth mentors can also help young people make informed choices about taking positive paths, for instance in the Reaching Out programme in York, or the Achieve programme on the coast. Now we have a team of 29 people across the county and city.
Some years ago we repositioned the activities of NYY so that however worthy the ask we only took on activities that at least broke even, and hopefully made a surplus. The team were good natured enough to accommodate my constant query of ‘what`s the margin?’
Of course we are a non-profit making organisation, but where we make a surplus it pays for unexpected expenses like broken boilers and sewage pumps, and the many improvements we want to do.
Working closely with our late Treasurer Phil, sadly departed, but who helped greatly to instil that new ethos, and now our new one Mark, whose role is now more akin to a private sector finance director, we have been able to service a loan which has allowed us to build a new accommodation block, more bedspaces but better quality as well.
This new building has been incredibly successful, so much so that a group of 100 young people were able to stay in deepest winter which would have been impossible to accommodate before.
Much of our business comes from return visits, always a good sign in business, with young people enjoying the open space of the grounds, activities on the water, the high ropes set-up and even dry-stone walling.
For fun at the recent AGM we produced some stats for Carlton Lodge – 6,128 hours of staff time spent cooking, 7,000 teabags used, 931 large cartons of milk, 404 catering size tins of baked beans enjoyed, along with 14,592 eggs, 9,128 sandwiches made and 9,728 home baked cakes eaten. This was by 4,564 children coming to stay, needing sheets and bedding washing 3,368 times. 2,508 kayaks were paddled, and on the high ropes 3,348 leaps of faith were completed launching (safely) into space. Not something I’m likely to do!
Coun Carl Les is the leader of North Yorkshire Council.