Forest Field Play Centre

Project Contact: Katie Booth, email katie@teamviy.com

Gorleston Community Room

The Gorleston Community Room was a disused community hub, a place where Orbit Housing envision a variety of groups/tenants meeting from the community where they live in Orbit housing in Great Yarmouth, the most deprived area in Norfolk and one of the most deprived towns in the UK. Orbit wanted to increase the functionality of this building, to increase the promotion of healthy living/wellbeing and deliver more quality experiences for the community to host from coffee/parent & child mornings, to physical activity groups like yoga and local services like voting.

The project:

To bring this vision to life, with some design input from MUF Architects, the project has seen the garden boundary extended, new doors being fitted to lead into the new garden, the construction of a large decking area with a section being covered by a pergola, a complete internal refit including new flooring, a new kitchen and larger, accessible toilet as well as external decoration and storage.

The young people: 19 local young volunteers recruited from the local Orbit housing community, YMCA Norfolk, Catch-22 Great Yarmouth and Dial Great Yarmouth, who support vulnerable young people and those with disabilities

The impact:

• 14 Entry Level 3 City & Guilds accreditations gained in Carpentry and Health & Safety
• Transformation of community hub including new kitchen and accessible toilet, new flooring and blinds for groups to use the space
• A new storage shed, pergola, seating and decking area ready to use for outdoor physical activity
• The building now has a larger footprint and more storage meaning it can host varied activities more flexibly.
• The newly refurbished interior also means it’s a more attractive space for private hire and general community events
• 2 young volunteers promoted to paid Peer Mentors with VIY during this project – supporting other VIY volunteers to learn trade skills on two further VIY projects in Norfolk
• 4 other young volunteers progressed into further education/training/employment following this project, with 2 more supported by VIY to find future opportunities
• The space was officially reopened to the community in October 2023

Match-funded by Sport England.

See this project in action here

Greenway Centre

Hagard Community Centre

Harton Westoe Miners Club

The project:

Harton & Westoe Miners Welfare support the wellbeing of all people in their local community and help make life a fulfilling and enjoyable experience. Their sports and recreational facilities host many different sports including football, gymnastics, bowls and cricket, as well as a function room. However there was little storage for all of the different sports to safely store the equipment at the venue. We created a stud wall across the full length of the function room, split into four lockable storage cupboards.

The young people: 18 young people from South Tyneside College, mostly young people for whom English is a second language

The impact:

• 12 Entry Level 3 City & Guilds accreditations earned in Carpentry and Painting & Decorating
• New lockable storage cupboards for different sports clubs to use to secure their equipment safely and efficiently
• A larger, decluttered function room, freed up from storage to hire out for external events and secure additional income for the club

Hyson Green Youth Centre

John Corfield Centre

Streatham Youth & Community Trust (SYCT) was the first youth club to take part in VIY, participating in the pilot project in February-April 2011.

Activities covered the repair and renovation of two separate club buildings managed by SYCT in south London, the John Corfield Centre and the Wellfield Centre, both in SW16 – with work undertaken including roof repairs, plumbing and general painting and decorating.

A core team of 43 young people committed more than 1,300 hours to the project and all achieved an entry level building and construction skills qualification.

26 of the 43 participants ultimately progressed to further trade skills training opportunities via a local vocational training centre in Brixton – while a further four secured paid work placements with local companies as a direct result of taking part in VIY.

Membership and attendance at the two club buildings also increased with young people feeling more ownership over their club.

The project was also visited and endorsed by Chuka Umunna, Shadow Business Minister and MP for Streatham, Chris Grayling, Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions, and Tim Campbell, special advisor to the Mayor of London on apprenticeships and youth enterprise.

Kineton Sports & Social Club

Lion’s Den

Lowestoft Tennis & Pickleball Club

Lowestoft Town Tennis and Pickleball Club, based at the Denes Oval in North Lowestoft is a busy local sports site offering a range of sports, including tennis and pickleball. The club has a strong and growing community, but parts of the site had become outdated, especially the tennis pavilion, which was mostly used for storage.

This meant racquet sports users had no proper space to meet, change, or spend time together after playing. As a result, it was harder to grow participation and make the sports more accessible for everyone.

The club is focused on breaking down barriers to sport and creating a welcoming space for all users. Our project here supports that goal and helps the site better serve its growing community.

The project

The project was funded by Barclays Community Sports Fund. Over 3-week, VIY worked with local young people to improve and bring the tennis pavilion back into use.

Work included:

• Retiling an unused shower area and installing a new toilet and cistern
• Building new bench seating and a large storage cupboard
• Improving a small kitchen area for social use
• Painting and decorating the whole space to make it brighter and more welcoming

These improvements will make a real difference day to day – creating a more comfortable, functional environment where people can get changed, shower, store equipment and spend time together after sport.

The young people

• 14 young people took part
• 10 achieved an accreditation in Health & Safety in Places of Work and Introducing Site Carpentry Skills
• Referrals came from East Coast College, Skills4Life, Lowestoft and Waveney Family Support Team, and independent referrals
• 14% non-White British | 50% had a physical disability, mental health condition and/or learning difficulty or disability

Chris Wright, Suffolk County Council says: 

“I just wanted to share that I caught up with one of our social workers yesterday who had a 17-year old young person in care take part in the experience with VIY. He absolutely loved it, and it’s inspired him to look at applying for carpentry courses at college and further down the line becoming an apprentice carpenter.

The social worker is over the moon as this particular young person has been ‘stuck’ for some time so he wanted me to pass on our gratitude.”

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