On Wednesday 7th October, GMYN opened our office doors, put up the balloons and turned up the music for our House Party event! It was well attended by different organisations around Greater Manchester.

It was good to meet new people, hear about organisations we have not worked with before and see some familiar faces.

Hannah Bell from Inspiring Learning said “It was lovely to see what you have been up to and speak with so many people with the same agenda in mind.”

Daniel has been a part of the Boom programme for almost 2 years, he has developed many new skills and gained a new confidence.

In this short video Daniel shares his experiences:

 

Oldham group discover art and treasure!

Young people from the Oldham Boom group took part in a variety of activities over the summer holidays. Firstly they helped evaluate the Boom project by giving their thoughts and ideas.
Then 3 young people spent a day at Oldham Gallery and achieved a Discover Art Award!

A few young people joined in with a treasure hunt called geocaching around Alexandra Park, it's amazing what can be found in your local area!!

Reward trips included kayaking and a joint trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach with the Bury group, where new friends were made!

Bury group volunteer at ARC

The Bury group took part in a range of activities over the summer holidays. Firstly they came up with new ideas for projects that GMYN could deliver with young people. Then the group went to the Agricultural Rural Centre in Stockport (ARC) to volunteer for the day. They had been there a few months ago and were pleased to see the young people again. They helped feed the animals, did some gardening and some painting.

Well done to the eighteen young people who took part in Boom in Bury and Oldham this summer!

It is with great joy that we announce that Boom+ is being funded by the Lloyds Bank Foundation up until September 2017. This will allow us to continue our vital work with care leavers in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale. We look forward to our partnership with the Lloyds Bank Foundation.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our partners in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale for their support in the previous year. Boom+ was a tremendous success as we were able to support so many care leavers, and we were only able to do this because of their support. We look forward to working with them over the next two years.

We are currently in the middle of constructing the programme for the next 6 months, so watch this space!

The Bury Boom group spent a great day volunteering at Agricultural Rural Centre (ARC) in Stockport. Five young people from Bury spent a day of their half term holidays at the farm, meeting the animals and helping out.

Firstly they met all the animals including the ponies, llamas, rabbits, ducks, cockerels and a baby goat called Elvis. They helped to feed the baby animals before giving hay and feed to the others. After lunch the group spent over an hour painting the stables white and black so the ponies have a nice new home. The group were also visited that day by Cat and Katie from Children in Need (who fund the project).

One young person said “It’s been fun and I’ve decided I would like to do animal care at college.” ARC staff thanked the young people for helping out and the young people enjoyed it so much we have decided to go again in summer.

 

Nine young people on the Boom project in Bury took part in a range of activities over the holidays; learning about charities, volunteering and playing music.

Firstly they met Paul from the Blue Cross who ran a workshop all about dogs and how to look after dogs properly. They also learnt more about the charity work of the Blue Cross and are now thinking of doing some fundraising for them.

On another day, two young people helped at New Spring Community Fun Day, and contributed to raising about £600 for the community. The young people served tea and coffee and made a special appearance as Mickey and Minnie Mouse!

Finally, young people learnt to DJ and showed off their skills by playing music and having a dance!

Young people on the Boom project in Bury spent an afternoon of their half term holiday volunteering at Pastures New in Rochdale. Pastures New is a charity operated by Jacqui Taylor that provides a safe and secure future for retired racehorses.

Jacqui Taylor said, "It was great to meet the young people through GMYN and involve them in the stories of our rescued horses and ponies. They enjoyed petting, grooming and cuddling the animals. We also gave them a small taster of 'equine assisted learning' to show how we use the horses and ponies to help improve self esteem, confidence, motivation and resilience in young people through a series of specially developed exercises. The time passed too quickly but they learned some basic horse handling and grooming - next time they've promised to help muck out!"

Emma, our Boom Project Co-ordinator from GMYN said, "The young people really enjoyed meeting the horses and felt a sense of achievement from learning how to handle and walk a horse properly."

Later in the week, the young people went on a trip to Rock Over Climb in Manchester and challenged themselves to scale the heights of the indoor walls!