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We asked young people who live in and around Wotton-under-Edge to tell us their ideas to help improve life in the town.
Ten great project ideas were submitted and six were chosen by public vote.
The teams of young people behind the ideas have now embarked on a programme of mentoring and skills development and are working hard to get their ideas off the ground.
Between now and July 2015, watch out for lots of new events, run by young people, which will be appearing all over the town.
Check out the projects page to find out more about what's happening!
We want to hear from you!
If you'd like to help out or get involved in any way, why not get in touch? You can contact us here
We set out to find six projects, created and run by young people, that would make a positive difference to life in Wotton.
We asked young people to get in touch and tell us about their ideas to improve life in the town. We asked questions like:
- what matters to you?
- how could you make a difference here?
- what help would you need?
- how could we work together to bring your ideas to life?
After the deadline for ideas passed, we collected up all the suggestions and put them to a public vote on Facebook. Local young people got to decide which projects were chosen.
The young people running these projects have now been offered six months of mentoring, practical support, professional contacts and help in accessing funding to get their ideas off the ground.
Along the way we'll keep a record on our website, showing how the ideas are growing, so that other people can see how to take their own ideas and make them a reality. We think these projects will be an inspiration to others, so we want to make sure everyone can see them.
January - May: mentoring and project development sessions
Each project team is currently receiving a personalised package of mentoring and support to help them take their idea and bring it to life. There are regular social and networking events with other project teams and chances to work with professionals from the local area and beyond.
June: evaluation
We’ll spend a little while looking at the impact of all our projects on the local community and publish the results for everyone to read.
July: graduation ceremony
We’ll be inviting everyone who has taken part in Wott-ON to bring friends and family to a celebration of their achievements. We’ll also be inviting a range of people from the Wotton community and the local media.
We would like to thank our funders for their generous support of the Wott-ON project. They are:
Gloucestershire Community Foundation Main Grant Fund
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire's Fund
Renishaw
Stroud District Youth Council Youth Activities Fund
We would also like to say a big thank you to the sponsors of our youth survey:
Goose & Gander Ltd
Nibley Festival
Treats UK
Wotton Electric Picture House
Thanks too to the many community organisations that have supported us so far. They include:
New Generation Dance
Wotton Army Cadet Force
Wotton Baptist Church
Wotton Guides
Wotton Scouts
Wotton Town Council, Town Clerk and One Stop Shop
Wotton Youth Club
Wotton Youth Forum
Wotton Youth Liaison Group
(This list is being updated all the time - please bear with us if your group hasn't appeared here yet, it will do soon!)
The Wott-ON project is being run by Fizzypig in partnership with local young people.
Fizzypig is a small, friendly, not-for-profit company based in Wotton-under-Edge. You can read more about the work we do on our website.
Here are just a few of the young people involved in the Wott-ON project. They range in age from 11 to 17. The projects that they, and others, are running are:
Youth Cafe with free wi-fi
Discount card
Friday films for you-th
Charity fundraisers
Wotton Podcasters
Streetdance Competition
In January, members of the Youth Cafe team applied for a Small Sparks grant from Barnwood Trust. They asked for help to buy some beanbags, a portable wi-fi router and enough food and drink to help them run their first event. Their plan was to make enough money at each event to be able to make the idea sustainable for the future.
Their application was successful and they were awarded £250!
The next step was to plan their menu, make a shopping list and go out to get everything they needed ready for their first public event. They ran a community cafe at the Valentine's Day event at the Town Hall, led by the Charity Fundraising team. It was the perfect opportunity to get some experience and confidence before setting up the first official Youth Cafe a few weeks later.
Then on Friday, 20th March, the team launched their first Youth Cafe event. There was fantastic live music from eXiled, homemade cakes, free wi-fi, giant beanbags and lots more.
The second event took place on Friday, 17th April - this time with music from The Rebellion. The number of people at the event almost doubled from the first one (up to 60 from 33), so it looks as though word is getting around!
The next event will be happening on Friday, 15th May, in partnership with the 'Friday Films for YOUth' team. The cafe will start straight after school at 3pm, as usual, but this time will finish by 5pm so that people can head over to Wotton Electric Picture House to catch a screening of 'Insurgent' for just £3. Live music this month will be provided by Max Yole-Smith and Steph Fleming. Don't miss it!
The Podcasting team decided to use their first ever podcast to help publicise the Valentine's Day event run by the Charity Fundraising Team. It contains chat and interviews with some of the other people involved - and you can listen here!
Here's podcast 2, containing interviews and reports from the Valentine's Day charity fundraiser. Have a listen to find out more about local band, Exiled, High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, Tom Frost, visiting saxophonist, Ollie Moore and loads more!
At the end of April, the team went to interview 92 year old Keith Carter at his home in Dryleaze House, to ask him about his experiences in World War II and, in particular, how he came to be run over by a tank, not once but twice! The programme is currently being edited and will be online soon...
The Dance team made a great contribution to the Valentine's Day event at the Town Hall. They ran two free workshops for people of all ages, to give an idea of what streetdance is all about!
The team are currently working on plans for a community dance festival to be held at the KLB school summer festival in June. Watch this space for more info!
Info coming soon...
The Friday Films for YOUth team met up with Gareth Negus from Wotton Electric Picture House at the first Youth Cafe on Friday, 20th March to choose some dates and films to show.
The first event took place on Friday, 27th April - a screening of Men in Black 3. It was a tough time of year to launch a new project as so many young people are busy with exams at the moment, but it all got off to a good start - we just need to work on spreading the word further for next time!
The next event is coming up on Friday, 15th May. This time, the film chosen is Insurgent. Tickets cost just £3 for 11-18 year olds. We hope to see you there!
On Saturday 14th February the Charity Fundraising team ran a Valentine's Day event for all the family at the Town Hall, Wotton-under-Edge. The event took place between 11.30am and 3.30pm and raised money for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Action for M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and provision of youth facilities in the town.
Before the event, organiser Kieran Underwood, 15, said: “This charity event is important to me as my cousin was treated at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children after being diagnosed with cancer”. Fellow organiser Jorden V Jones-Vines, also 15, said: “The M.E. charity is special to me as my mother and someone close to me have the illness. I would like to raise as much money and awareness as possible.”
The event welcomed people of all ages and offered a wide range of activities and entertainment. There were stalls, competitions, dance workshops run by teenage members of New Generation Dance, a buskers’ corner featuring local young musicians, a cafe run by other members of the Wott-ON project, face painting and lots more.
Moving on... members of the charity fundraising team have now become involved in a local campaign to raise funds to build a new, safe path down to the skatepark. Watch this space to find out more about a crowdfunding campaign, coming soon!
Here are some of the comments left by visitors to our charity fundraiser:
"Alex and Ace were out in Long Street encouraging people to come to this event - they were both very polite for which I was very grateful. When I arrived here the sense of excitement and happiness was and remains prevalent. Thank you all for a very pleasant hour or so!"
"A lovely lunch, great polite group of teenagers. Well done and thanks to you all."
Absolutely fab work done and organised by Kieran. Brilliant work from all the helpers for a fantastic cause."
"Raffle stall owner was lovely and very kind!"
"The children were all good hosts."
'Very good and very nice people. Hope for more."
"Friendly atmosphere, nice cakes - well done. Keep it going - when's the next one?!"
"A fab event. All the young teens did an excellent job. Kieran and Carly make a great team. Everyone was very polite. Great turnout and for a great cause."
"A fantastic event - all the best for the future. It will be a great success if today is anything to go by - well done!"
Thanks to the Gazette newspaper for their recent support in raising the profile of our project. You can read more here.
Our survey results make the local news...
Here's a piece publicising the charity fundraiser on 14th February, 2015.
You can read a review of the charity fundraiser here.
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