Swinton lock activity centre

Aim

To support those who need it most. Covering the South Yorkshire area & Swinton. Food bank, alternative provision, mental health support

We are a registered charity that supports our local community and the wider South Yorkshire area. We have a small team that specialises in different areas of support. As a whole we provide support to those that have been victim to CSE, CA, DA/DV, those who have a low income or are in poverty. We also provide volunteering opportunities. We not only provide Adult and family services but also provide a re-engagement (alternative provision/school) and youth club that supports over 100 children on a weekly basis.

A little bit about each of our services:

Re-engagement & Youth Club

Re-engagement provides an alternative school provision for teenagers who are struggling in school. We teach them life and practical skills whilst working towards AQA's. We work closely with adult services to provide support for the whole family. This gives young people a chance to learn things, learn structure and discipline, new skills and training, food and health, sexual health and more. We go on trips, teach mechanics skills, hair, beauty & wellness, graffiti art and woodworking skills.

Our Youth club is currently providing a fun and safe space for over 50 children term-time on a weekly basis (Thursday evenings). We feed the children and ensure they have a meal and a safe space to have fun with other kids.

For both the Youth Club and re-engagement we promote a healthy and balanced lifestyle. This includes getting the young people involved with sports such as fishing, basketball, football, boxing skills, circuit training & more. We'd love to hire another Youth Worker and build additional facilities to make sports and wellbeing more of a focus. Part of the money raised will be going towards re-engagement to build a better environment for our young people to thrive in. Our youth club supports on average 50 children term time. They come to socialise, play games, play sports and we provide them a healthy hot meal

Adult & Family support

We provide one to one support, Advocacy, Help with benefits, help with confidence, Training, CV help, help with bills and debts, professional meetings. We provide therapeutic group activities including a men's only group, women's only group, family days and a mixed group. We provide a lot of support for those that have been victim to Child sexual Exploitation, Child abuse, sexual abuse, Domestic Violence and the impact that has on their lives and the impact it has on their family. We provide short term, long term and lifetime support and we work on a needs-led basis which is person centered.

Support Groups

We run support groups for people struggling with mental health. We provide a safe space where people can come and enjoy some crafts. We go on trips and outings and provide group support for those who need it. Our support groups run on a Tues and Friday 10am-12pm. We provide some breakfast, tea, coffee and biscuits plus pay for clients to do an activity or an outing every week. We work therapeutically so the clients who attend can relax and work through tough times together. We also provide a walking group on a Tuesday afternoon with lunch provided to promote a healthy lifestyle and positive mental health.

Men in Sheds

Men in sheds is our men's only mental health support group. Funded by the heritage grant men in sheds was originally 1 day per week and is now a minimum of 3 days a week with some clients coming up to 5. It promotes a positive and safe space for men to talk about their mental health, negative things they are going through, suicide, alcohol and substance abuse support. The men in sheds group primarily do woodworking and create their our buildings and furniture and space. They are currently in the process of making an outdoor safe space and adding a blacksmithing building. We love that a group of guys can get together and feel supported and listened to. Men in sheds works closely with adult and family support services so we can ensure they get all the support they need.

Food, clothing & hygiene bank

We provide long term food bank support for people living in Swinton and Kilnhurst. We do not work on a 3 parcel limit, we review people's circumstances every 3 months and provide people with long term food bank support. We have recently opened a hygiene and clothing bank which is fully relying on donations at the moment to help us build a little shop for those in the community. Our bank support relies on people's donations of money and items to keep it going. We would like part of the Aviva community fund to go towards building a better and more sustainable bank supply.

Boat Trips/ Boat training

We provide paid, funded and volunteer boat trips and training on our two lovely narrowboats. This teaches young people, volunteers and adults the skills they need to run the boat. They take trips up and down the canal. We also run parties and events on our boat, we do event boat trips (Christmas, Halloween, Easter etc).

Volunteering

We have many volunteering options throughout our centre, providing a safe place for people of all ages and backgrounds to support us. We welcome all volunteers to our centre. We rely massively on our volunteers as we are such a small team.

What we will spend the money raised on

We are trying to raise funds to improve our centre. This will include:

Building an additional outdoor classroom - this will help us provide more space for our young people. It will allow us to alter our current classroom layout to make more dedicated spaces for the young people to achieve.
Provide more sports activities. This will include additional options for our young people to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle
Provide updated equipment for our adults & families, youth club and re-engagement. Such as new sporting equipment, updated sporting nets, new basketballs/footballs and hoops.
Update our garden and outdoor area
Help us gain more space for our youth club and providing more opportunities and activities
Helping us to hire an additional youth worker who will be able to do more focused 121 work with the young people and provide more outings and sports-related activities
Allow us to provide more suited 121 therapeutic support for adults & families.

Testimonials

"I would not be here if it wasn't for Swinton lock and the support they give me. They were there in my darkest time and got me out of my hole" (Adult support testimonial)

"Coming to swintonlock youth club i have made so many friends we have lots of fun" (Youth Club testimonial)

"My son attend re-engagement, he has started thriving there when everyone else had given up on him. He learns new skills, gains friends, he's got loads of AQA's since starting there. The staff are like family and work so hard for the kids. We couldn't be without it. If he didn't go there he was at risk of joining a gang and for that I owe every effort to swinton lock and all they do" (Re-engagement Testimonial)