Youth Services

Since 2018, Five Lamps have been delivering breakfast clubs throughout the school holidays, however, due to the unprecedented circumstances; the club had to be delivered virtually during 2020/21.

To ensure the breakfast club was still providing enriching fun activities, Five Lamps have been looking at ways to adapt and provide activities throughout the holidays which could be delivered virtually but were also engaging and helping the children to learn new things.

During February half term, the focus of the Breakfast Club was mindfulness and featured a virtual yoga session with My Yogi Bairns which was delivered via Zoom. As well as Yoga, the young people also received a box of crafts, a baking box to make scones and there was also a live game of Bingo on the secure Breakfast Club group.

As well as activities, the children also receive a pack of breakfast materials, which includes, bread, cereal, milk, juice, crumpets, pancakes, jam, butter and fresh fruit.

The attendance at the club had increased since last summer holidays and there were a total of 30 families with 70 children taking part. The majority of families were from Thornaby and surrounding areas.

Breakfast Club has become an important part of the young people and their parent’s lives, they have a safe place where they can meet others, take part in activities and for many it also helps to relieve added financial pressures of the school holidays.

Feedback from the club has included;

“Thank you so much for this week, my children really enjoyed taking part in all of the activities, especially the baking box.”

The club is open to all ages of children who live in Thornaby on Tees and surrounding areas.

Five Lamps were able to deliver the clubs after being successful in a bid to Stockton on Tees Borough Council Public Health’s holiday enrichment grant which was managed by Catalyst.

Families in Thornaby can look forward to holiday fun and a healthy breakfast during the summer holidays thanks to funding from Persimmion Homes.

Five Lamps been selected to receive £1,000 from Persimmon Homes Teesside’s Community Champions scheme to support its annual summer-holiday breakfast club.

Amy Richardson, Five Lamps, Marketing and Campaigns Manager, said:

“Five Lamps has been delivering a breakfast club during the school holidays for two years and provided somewhere for families to go to socialise with their neighbours, meet new people, take part in activities and enjoy a free breakfast.

“When the club was first established in 2018, we hoped to reach around 40 young people during the six-week holiday and have them attending the club on a regular basis. However, the club was so needed, that we had around 200 young people and a footfall of more than 800.

“The feedback we have had has been rewarding. People have told us we have brought the community together and that families feel less stressed about their finances during the school holiday period, as not only are we providing a free breakfast, we are also providing enriching activities which helps contribute to the young people having a fantastic summer holiday.

“The demand for the clubs is becoming greater, which means we are heavily reliant on volunteers and donations. This grant will make a huge difference to us and help us to continue our brilliant clubs.”

Joan Peart, sales director for Persimmon Homes Teesside, said:

“In these difficult times it is reassuring that organisations such as Five Lamps are able to support the community and help ease some of the financial and emotional burden. We were delighted to handover the funds and wish them well.

“This is exactly what our Community Champions scheme is all about, supporting good causes and volunteers who give their time to support their communities.

“We always receive so many applications for our Community Champions initiative. I really encourage any charities and groups looking for funding to apply to the scheme for their chance to receive up to £1,000 match-funding for their own cause.”

Each month the Thornaby-based builder donates up to £2,000 to community groups across the region. This also happens across Persimmon’s other 31 operating areas, meaning up to £64,000 is dished out every single month – a total of £768,000 a year.

To find out more about the Persimmon Homes Community Champions scheme please visit www.persimmonhomes.com/charity

Five Lamps Youth Club “The Youthy”, is based in the Mandale and Victoria ward of Stockton on Tees. In comparison with the Borough and North East, the Mandale and Victoria Ward have a larger proportion of BME population, and a smaller proportion of residents identifying as Christian. (Mandale and Victoria Ward Profile, 2019).

Considering it has one of the smaller proportions of residents identifying as Christian, the majority of young people who attend our evening youth clubs do report as Christian.

To help strengthen good interfaith relations at all levels and increase awareness of the different and distinctive faith communities surrounding our Youthy, the young people and staff came up with an idea to host a “bringing the community together” event.

The event was held at the Youthy on Saturday 18 January 2020 and there were over 100 attendees who attended the day. At the event there was a representation from Media Cultured who are a highly successful and acclaimed social enterprise specialising in promoting unity and countering extremism through education, inclusion, safeguarding and equality programmes. They brought along, food and information about their faith and organisation.

There were activities and posters that families could be involved in which showcased a number of faiths such as, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. There was also a face painter, glitter tattooist and a dance lesson from Urban Kaos, who created a Bollywood/street dance with the young attendees on the day. Five Lamps were successful in receiving funding from The Inter Faith Youth Trust, which enabled them to offer the day free of charge.

Five Lamps also provided free food for all of the attendees, plus the opportunity to have a go on the fantastic climbing wall which has levels for all abilities.

To help showcase the talents and activities the young people are involved in at the Youthy, two of the young people who attend the Thursday evening youth club, Evie Morgan and Alisha Mitchell performed at the Interfaith open day by singing a few of their favourite songs. Attendees were blown away by the confidence and talent of both girls and they were the stars of the day.

Local businesses in Thornaby were also involved in the day by donating tombola prizes to help raise money for trips and activities for the young people who attend our Youth Club. The tombola was a huge success and Five Lamps raised over £300.

One of the attendees on the day said;

“Massive thank you to all of the staff who made the fun day an amazing event there was, music, food, activities and my all-time favourite tombola which my kids and I won lots of amazing prizes”

The Youthy currently delivers four youth club provisions – All Stars Youth Club (for young people aged 7 to 10 years), Youth United Stockton (YUS) (for young people aged 10 to 19 years), Tuesday Evening VIBE (young people with physical and learning disabilities aged 7 to 21 years) and also Our Friday Evening Session VIBE Club For Young Adults aged 16 plus with physical and learning disabilities.

Mischief Night is the 30th October and is an informal night where young people engage in pranks and minor vandalism.  However last night’s mischief night seen 81 young people from across Thornaby, hand in their eggs and partake in a night of MC and grime music.

Five Lamps, Youth Club ‘The Youthy’ hosted the evening with support from Stockton on Tees Borough Council and had special guests attend to deliver the music such as, Chris Sayer, David Hammond, Marlo, Dylan Berry, African Willz, Asky, plus many more.

The night was free of charge for 10-19 year olds and it gave the young people the opportunity to come together, enjoy music and socialise with friends in a safe environment. As well as enjoy the music the young people also had the opportunity to MC with the acts.

The event was organised by Five Lamps and their Youth workers in light of the recent Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) which had been taking place in the local area. At a recent residents group held in Thornaby, 96 residents attended to share their concerns that the Anti-Social Behaviour would increase rapidly in light of ‘mischief night.’

To discourage any ASB activity and to make the streets safer in Thornaby, the Youth Workers engaged with the young people who attend their Youth United Stockton Thursday evening youth session and asked them what they would like to do on mischief night. The majority of young people shared their idea of an MC/Grime music event.

Stockton on Tees Borough council also supported the evening with funding towards the event and also CCTV monitoring, outreach patrol and Intel. They also referred any young people on the streets into the Youthy.

Darren Iveson, Five Lamps Youth Services Manager said;

“It was a great evening and it offered the young people a safe place to go, it also helped to make the streets of Thornaby a safer place as it reduced ASB activity in the local community. Our Youth Workers worked hard to support and engage with the young people leading up to and on the evening of the event and a lot of planning and ideas was from the young people who attend our youth club on a regular basis.”

In response to a need identified by the local community, Five Lamps’ established its own youth service. Our purpose built youth facility ‘The Youthy’ was opened in 2002 and we provide a range of services and activities for young people aged 7 to 19 years.

The Youthy currently delivers three youth clubs- All Stars Youth Club (for young people aged 7 to 10 years), Youth United Stockton (YUS) (for young people aged 11 to 19 years), VIBE (young people with physical and learning disabilities aged 7 to 21 years).

Ella is aged 18 and has a severe learning difficulty; Ella has been attending the VIBE session at the Youthy on a Tuesday for 9 years. The VIBE session is a youth club for young people aged 7-21 years of age who have physical or learning disabilities.

When Ella first started attending the Youthy she was shy and quiet and lacked a lot of self-confidence.

To help build her confidence, the Five Lamps, Youth Workers introduced Ella to the climbing wall as she expressed a lot of interest in climbing.

She began on the basic wall gaining more confidence each week then gradually moved along to the overhang feature wall which is for more advanced climbers. Ella looks forward to coming to the Youthy each week and always asks to go on the climbing wall, encouraging others to climb with her.

Ella also enjoys cooking and arts and crafts and has built strong relationships with her peers and the youth workers. Ella has blossomed into a confident, smiley, happy individual and always brings lots of energy and positivity into the Youthy.

Ella said, “I love to go on the climbing wall, I feel very proud of myself when I reach the top.”

Her newfound confidence has also received feedback from the Youth Workers and also her peers who expressed that Ella is also welcoming and friendly to new and existing people who come into the Youthy. She has made lots of friends and her positive attitude and spirit always brightens up the day!

The VIBE Youth club is for young people aged 7 to 21 years with physical and learning disabilities. VIBE is open on Tuesday and Friday from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

Did you know you can also hire our Youthy for children’s parties? Contact us at, bookaparty@fivelamps.org.uk for more information.

On 9 May 2019, 12 young people from Thornaby ‘Youthy’ set on a mission to clean up the areas surrounding the youth club on Thornaby Road, including Victoria Park. They then moved on to Thornaby High Street to continue their litter pick.

The young people attend the Thursday evening open access Youth United Stockton session at the Youthy, took it upon themselves to organise the litter pick to give something back and make a positive impact on their community. The litter pick was successful and the young people filled over 8 refuse bags worth of litter from Thornaby.

They were also supported in their mission, by Thornaby Town Centre Management Team and Stockton Council’s Care for your Area service. Funding for the project came from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s ‘High Street Community CleanUp’ which enabled the purchase of litter pickers and gloves for the young people as well as a treat to say thank you for their hard work. Five Lamps Youth Participation Workers and a local Thornaby resident also volunteered their time to help the young people.

The litter pick was the start of their determination as they now feel more encouraged to continue on their mission of cleaning up the area.

Darren Iveson, Youth Services Manager said;

“Well done to all of the young people who attended the clean-up. Young people often get a bad press so it’s great that a group of them have made a positive impact on their community”

Five Lamps and Corner House Youth Project are the accountable bodies for Youth United Stockton (YUS) which is the Open Access Youth Provision in Stockton-On-Tees. Youth United Stockton is delivering free youth sessions across the Borough for young people aged 10-19 years old. For more information visit www.yus.org.uk.

Five Lamps run four youth clubs every week from their purpose built youth facility the ‘Youthy’

·         Tuesday’s (17:30 to 20:30)

o   VIBE (young people with physical and learning disabilities aged 7 to 21 years)

·         Wednesday’s (5.15pm to 7.45pm)

o   All Stars Youth Club (for young people aged 7 to 10 years)

·         Thursday’s (18:30 to 20:30)

o   Youth United Stockton (YUS) Youth Club (for young people aged 11 to 18 years)

·         Friday’s (17:30 to 20:30)

o   VIBE (young people with physical and learning disabilities aged 7 to 21 years

On 08 April 2019, 9 young people from Five Lamps Youthy joined 21 other young people from across Stockton on Tees on an overnight residential at the Kingsway Centre which is based in Middleton on Teasdale.

The young people, who attend the Thursday night Youth United Stockton evening, were taken out of their usual environment and comfort zones and were embarking on two days’ worth of fun challenges.

The trip was funded by the Early Intervention Youth Fund – Targeted Youth Outreach and was delivered by Youth United Stockton, to help provide early intervention services to young people that will prevent them from participating in ASB and other unruly activities.

On the residential the young people undertook a number of challenges and activities to help build up their emotional resilience, their confidence, communication skills and also their team work skills.

The challenges began as soon as they arrived at the centre, as they were tasked to make up their own beds! They then went on to take part in Gorge walking, which ended in a cliff jump. Raft building, where they learnt how to build a raft which they then used on the river, a high ropes course, with the leap of faith at the end and finally crate stacking, which was a physical and mental challenge to get them working as a team and thinking about the actions they chose.

Overall the trip was a success and 100% of young people attending the residential said they enjoyed the trip and would like to take part in other trips with other young people across the Borough.

One of the young people said;

“I really enjoyed the trip and I learnt to work as a team and to be yourself, socialise because most of the kids are like you”

Five Lamps and Corner House Youth Project are the accountable bodies for Youth United Stockton (YUS) which is the Open Access Youth Provision in Stockton-On-Tees. Youth United Stockton is delivering free youth sessions across the Borough for young people aged 10-19 years old.

The most wonderful times of the year!

October to December is always a brilliant time of year for The Youthy and as usual 2018 was no different.

In October 2018, the Youthy was transformed into a spooky pumpkin patch ready for the Allstar and VIBE Halloween Parties. Our Youth United Stockton evening on a Thursday also got an extra special spooky treat; this was a Halloween walk of darkness and things that go bump in the night!

The young people do not only have their parties to look forward to, but the run up to these events were filled with some amazing activities including, making Spooky scarecrows for the parties. You can guarantee the Youthy staff has definitely got something brilliant up their sleeves for the events.

Once you walked up the stairs in the Youthy, you were transported to the Spooky Pumpkin patch, and Christmas was no different.  The evenings leading up to Christmas were filled with magic as the Youthy was transformed into the greatest showman circus style. From the circus tents with a Christmas twist, it really is the greatest show and time of year.

The events usually last a week, with each session enjoying their own individual parties which include; party games like four corners and musical chairs, there is a feast prepared by the Youthy staff and there is also a Friday evening volunteer DJ Gavin. The special Christmas event would also not have been complete without a visit from Santa himself!

However, the spotlight of the Christmas event was stolen this year by our Youth United Stockton’s very own little starlet, Evie. Who with her spectacular voice shared some of her own performances of the hits from the Greatest Showman.

Jodie Hall Five Lamps, Youth Participation Worker said;

“It’s always a pleasure to put together such wonderful events throughout the year for our sessions, whether it’s beach parties, Halloween or Christmas. It always puts a smile on every young person’s face who walks through that door, as well as our own”

All Stars Youth Club id for young people aged 7 to 10 years and is open on Wednesday’s from 5:15pm to 7:45pm. The VIBE Youth Club is for young people aged 7 to 21 years with physical and learning disabilities. VIBE is open on Tuesday’s and Friday’s from 17:30 to 20:30 and the Youth United Stockton evening is for young people aged 10 to 19 years and is open on 18:30 to 20:30.

Breakfast at Five Lamps

Throughout the six weeks holiday’s Five Lamps have been hosting Breakfast Clubs within South Thornaby Community Centre for young people and their families who live within Thornaby and surrounding areas.

The Breakfast clubs provided somewhere for families to socialise, meet new people, join in games and activities and enjoy a free breakfast. By delivering the clubs across the school holidays Five Lamps have also been able to reduce holiday hunger for some families across Thornaby and surrounding areas.

Holiday hunger is a real problem for families who normally receive free school meals. Providing those extra meals during school holidays can be a real struggle for many families, so by Five Lamps providing them with a free breakfast, this has made a huge difference to that young person and their families.

Over 100 young people attended the Breakfast clubs, with the footfall reaching 854 people. The young people were able to take part in some fun activities including; a drawing competition, football, games, slime making and making fruit kebabs as well as fruit and yoghurt.

Working in partnership with Corner House Youth Project, Five Lamps also provided a mini bus to collect around 10 young people from Arlington park Youth Club, who also enjoyed attending the breakfast clubs and meeting new people.

Overall the clubs were a huge success with parents/guardians commenting that;

“The community has been brought together, I am now speaking to my next door neighbours who I haven’t really had a conversation with before, just in passing and saying hello”

“The clubs give us somewhere to bring our children, everyone is welcome and it’s got a really nice feeling and community spirit”

“Really good for children, my youngest doesn’t eat much and ate a little more than she would at home”

All of the parents who attended the club also reported that; the young people felt happier from attending the club, had more energy for the day and it has also helped them reduce stress over finances.

Five Lamps were able to deliver the clubs after being successful in a bid to Stockton on Tees Borough Council Public Health to receive funding. They also received donations from; Warburton’s, ASDA, KP foods and Greggs. The generous donations allowed Five Lamps to also provide a bag of lunch materials for the families to take home. As well as donations, staff from ASDA and Thornaby Hub volunteered their time to the club to deliver activities and games to the young people.

The clubs will be continued throughout the school holidays this year, with a week of fun activities planned for October half term and Breakfast with Santa on Christmas Eve.

Positive Progression into Further Education

Courtney is 16 years old and came to Five Lamps after leaving school in May 2017.  Courtney had heard about the work Five Lamps delivers and the support from the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) Programme, in partnership with Hartlepool Borough Council.

Courtney unfortunately was bullied at school and it affected her course work. It is refreshing to see how after her time at school Courtney is determined and focused on future training towards an eventual career of her choice. Anne Rookes, YEI Support Worker at Five Lamps  has supported Courtney by visiting local colleges with her and now Courtney has enrolled at Stockton Riverside College Bede Sixth Form in Billingham.  She will soon start a maths course to improve this skills set and has enrolled on a Public Services Training course as her career goal is to become a Pathologist in the future.  Courtney says that without the support of Anne, she wouldn’t have had the confidence to apply for or attend a college place.

Anne will continue to support Courtney and looks forward to being part of her journey.  Funding helped Courtney with necessary items to move into College which Courtney and her parents were extremely grateful for.

The Tees Valley Pathways and Routeways programmes form part of the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI). This is part-funded by the European Social Fund through the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England.

The program aims to support young people across the Tees Valley aged 15-29 who are unemployed and/or not in educations, employment or training until the end of July 2018.

YEI can also offer grant support for Business Start Ups or Employment related costs, if you would like to find out more, please contact the YEI team on; 01642 753511.