Meden School

Mellish Sports Centre

Merryville House

Project: we converted an empty townhouse into a new nine-bed supported accommodation unit for Youth Concern, a charity providing support, information and guidance for vulnerable young people aged 13 – 25 years old in Aylesbury Vale. The residence is used to house young people at risk of homelessness in Aylesbury.

This was also the first project supported by Dulux, who have now become one of our key National Trade Partners. They donate all of the paint and painting materials to all of our projects, their colleagues and customers support our projects as mentors and volunteers and we are now working to gain further work experience and placements for our young volunteers with their customers and contractors. You can read more about this partnership here.

Volunteers: 10 young volunteers supported by Youth Concern, supported by staff volunteers from Dulux

Fun fact: Jojo started as a VIY volunteer (pictured painting on the right in picture 9 on the stairs) and has now been a Project Executive/Youth Engagement Co-ordinator with VIY since 2021!

Skills and accreditations earned: throughout the nine rooms in the building, our young learners and Dulux volunteers got involved with plastering, plumbing tiling and decorating to transform this place into a welcoming home for young people through Youth Concern.

Hear about the project here on BBC Three Counties

Mersey Bowmen Tennis Club

Mersey Bowmen is one of the oldest tennis clubs in the country in a deprived part of Liverpool, and were having severe issues with flooding and damp, and the clubhouse was becoming rundown as a result. They applied to VIY for help and, over several weeks, VIY mentors worked with more than 30 local young volunteers to design and install new drainage gullies and also to carry out a much-needed full internal and external redecoration of the clubhouse.

The young volunteers were referred into the project by Merseyside Sports Partnership and Greenbank College, located near to the club. and most of them were first-time volunteers and had never previously been involved with activities at Mersey Bowmen. All of the young volunteers also achieved an Entry Level 3 City & Guilds Accreditation in Painting and Decorating as a result of their participation.

Alan Haddy, Club Manager at Mersey Bowmen, was delighted with the impact of the project: “We’ve greatly benefitted from the VIY project. The VIY staff and mentors were very supportive and provided expert advice in addressing our facility maintenance and repair requirements. VIY also led on recruiting local young people to volunteer and participate, and managed all activities onsite. It’s been very smooth running. The project has also helped to introduce many more young people to our club and to tennis, and to engage them in further opportunities with us, such as the free coaching sessions we provide every Sunday.”

Merstham Cricket Club

Middleton Select Boxing Club

The project:

This community-focused gym were delighted with the support we gave to their club and the work led by our Mentors, with help from some young boxers at the gym too. We boosted their changing facilities with seating, storage and redecoration, separated their shower spaces and improved their toilets to make it overall a more welcoming space for wider audiences to use. A project co-funded by Toolstation, who have a distribution centre in the local area, and match-funded by Sport England.

The young people: 18 young people from three local schools, two repeat VIY volunteers, along with some of the club’s young boxers helping to improve a space they use and benefit from

The impact, reported in the months since the VIY project:

• Pupils from a SEN school and PRU unit now attend the gym to engage in activities twice weekly
• Children causing anti-social behaviour issues in the community now attend a few evenings per week, reducing crime in the community
• A lot more people attend the boxing club because the toilet and shower facilities are now a lot better
• Bringing lots of different groups into the gym to help with confidence and self-esteem

“All of us at our club cannot thank you all enough for everything, this means the absolute world to me and all our kids – some of them have helped out which is great. Thanks again, I’m extremely happy.” Martyn Lynch, Head Coach

Accreditations gained: 14 Entry Level 3 City & Guilds in Painting & Decorating and Health & Safety

Read more here in DIY Week

Micklehurst Cricket Club

Milefield Community Farm

Millbrook Rugby Club

Minsthorpe Community College

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