It was our first visit to Go Swimstars last week. They work from several venues and specialise in swimming coaching.
Supporting young people on the winter HAF programme, it was good to meet new faces and re connect with some that we had worked with before.
We were joined by one of our volunteers Denis, who we first met as an attendee at one of our sessions around 3 years ago. He is now gaining valuable knowledge and experience to support his college education.
He has ambitions of going on to further education and it is a privilege for us to share his journey.
Thanks to Sue for inviting us, and her staff for giving us a warm welcome.
You can find further information about Go Swimstars here:
Over the past couple of weeks we have been supporting one of the local groups.
My parents encouraged me to join the cubs as a young lad and it proved a good way to mix with other kids and learn about the outdoors.
Working in St Michael’s church in Skellow was a pure joy as we explored songwriting and beatmaking along with some electro acoustic Jams.
Thanks so much to Gemma and Fiona for inviting us. We met at a local Community gala organised by Well Doncasters’ Lauren Beaumont.
We met some young people who we had worked with previously and it meant a lot to us to witness them flourishing.
When parents get their children to participate in out of School activities they are giving them an opportunity to widen their social circle snd boost opportunities to develop support networks. This is increasingly valuable from a mental health perspective.
So a big thanks to all the parents out there who are putting the effort in, you will be rewarded with healthier more resilient young people.
“When we started I was quiet and didn’t want to talk much, but now if our teacher asks a question I will answer, I used to be scared to do things but now I find it easier to get involved, I enjoyed the beat pad most.” L.M aged 9
We asked if they felt anything had changed since we started 6 weeks ago.
It was our final session of 6 on Tuesday and I asked the children if they felt anything was different from when we met 6 weeks ago. 6 out of the 9 pupils recognised that they were more confident socially.
For us building strong social bonds and supercharging confidence are among our primary aims, but to hear them mirror back their understanding of it really made my day.
Over the past 6 weeks we have covered communication and discipline. Learning and development. Music from around the world. Songwriting and Music Production, DJing and the connections between Maths, Science, Art and Music.
We have Jammed, laughed, learnt about each other and explored the building blocks of Music.
Thanks to Miss Jenkins for taking part as well as supporting us through the sessions and thanks to all the School staff who made us feel welcome.
“I love bringing him here, it gives him time away from me (mum) and gives him space to be himself.”
So nice to hear one of the mums appreciating the work of Paige and Rachel who share in our passion for supporting young people.
It was encouraging to hear from the ladies that there have been some positive leaps forward today.
Massive thanks to Well Doncaster for supporting us over the last few months and allowing us to work with so many different groups.
The highlight of my day today was just after the photo above, this young fella began to get creative and when he started to do some thing above and beyond, he turned to me and said “high five”
I gave him some skin and we carried on.
Thanks to everyone who who joined us today.
Upcoming sessions this week are.
Woodlands Library from 2.45 Monday, mixed age Askern Shakers from 7.00pm 11 to 16 Monday, Adwick Primary After School Club closed session, Tuesday Bullcroft Memorial Hall from 4.45pm Tuesday 7 to 11 Highfields Boxing Club from 4.45pm on Wednesday mixed age.
Back at Adwick Primary today and a proud moment for us as Volunteer Matt finally got his chance to shine.
Loads of creative conversation about swimming with pigs and visiting far off lands as we discussed what the future might hold.
We have learnt a lot about each other and also focused on the importance of discipline and communication, we are all looking forward to getting stuck in with the technical equipment next week.
Thanks again to Miss Jenkins for leaving us a fantastic review on our Facebook page and for posing for the pic above.
Instant engagement is the key to delivering any kind of work with young people. Over the past 3 years our partner organisations have shared the benefits of our work such as reducing anxiety and building social confidence.
It’s fulfilling to hear the positive feedback we have received and we are blessed to have found partners who share our passion.
When you work with tools everyday they can almost become invisible to you, I think we sometimes take for granted our privilege of being able to use state of the art equipment and we often ignore the obvious elements of Science and Technology in our work.
This week we have given an opportunity for young blind people to closely communicate using the technology as a tool. We were Invited by the Ridge Employability College who are focused on giving young people employment opportunities in the community.
We have also spent time at Highfields Boxing Club where we opened up the conversation about how young people used technology and we all had different views of what a mobile phone is for.
We embraced sound design at Bentley Myplace this week and came up with a classic house groove. We sculpted sound using a synthesiser and made collaborative choices on what we were aiming for.
The STEM acronym is used a lot nowadays and there can be a fear factor surrounding maths and science, our focus is on the fun, so we feel the flow rather than the…….. Errrrrrrr no.
We have places available at Highfields Boxing Club on Wednesday night from 4.45pm
I have always been reluctant to share the awesome!!! work of The ME – Project. I have been working with them over the past couple of years with their Artfully Adapting programme.
It is a targeted programme which practically highlights artistic activities to support specific areas of young people’s lives. I always commend the participants for just turning up. The difficult part of the work for us, is sharing with the public just how much fun it is, while respecting confidentiality of the attendees.
When parents say to their kids “hey go down and try it” it must fill them with dread as they don’t know what they are walking into. I think everyone who joins is pleasantly surprised. The facilities are awesome and I always look forward to returning for a chocolate cookie, they always get the really nice ones.
Kat, Paige and the team are like a family. I think what has made it work so well is that they do it like us, they carry the deep knowledge and experience, which they keep inside like a book on a shelf, while being more focused in the moment of having fun and engaging.
So far every participant has enjoyed it, we have had a lot of fun, and at one point last night we had a 5 minute laughing fit with tears rolling down cheeks as I looked back and shared one of my stories from my school days.
The latest 6 week programme to support 12 to 16 year olds may still have a place left as I write this, check below for details.
A week of delivery around Doncaster and Rotherham completed, again it was a pleasure to work alongside Active Fusion and Rotherham United Community Sports Trust.
We are proud to be supporting committed partners who share our passion for steering positive outcomes in disadvantaged communities.
We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a wonderfully positive new year.
Awesome to welcome the birth of a new group in Highfields this evening. At this time of year its important to offer safe activities for young people, so thanks again to the Well Doncaster team at DMBC for their continued support.
We are proud to welcome our latest volunteer, Emily from Doncaster University Health and Social care. Providing opportunities for young people to develop through leadership is an important part of our ethos.
It’s not always easy to make the connection between health and music. The health benefits of social development around music can be life changing. We add the value of being experienced industry professionals with a strong awareness of current healthcare practices, which we are proud to pass on to the next generation.
We have also been back at Bentley Myplace where we have been finding out about young people’s aspirations and sharing our thoughts on how using music technology equipment could support essential skills for their future.
We will be back on Wednesday Highfields from 4.45pm and Bentley from 7pm
We have been supporting the young people of North Doncaster over the last few weeks.
We began our journey supporting young people nearly 10 years ago at Myplace, which sparked the idea of 90minutemusic. It has been an arduous journey from initial personal adversity, through curiosity about the watermark of potential for marginalised groups, to extensive research and expertise gained which was honoured in 2021 with the proud presentation of the UK Youth quality mark.
We will be offering FREE sessions on Wednesday evenings from 7pm, and a special workshop from 12pm on Friday the 28th of October at Bentley Myplace.
90minutemusic.co.uk 