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Category: Thank You So Much

Fresh Futures Gains Incredible Support from Local Café – Here’s How You Can Get Involved

Posted on by Aimee Webb

Unity Yard Café at Holmfirth

Unity Yard, an arty café based in Holmfirth, has been supporting Fresh Futures since the end of 2024. The café supports over 140 local artists and makers, selling art; plants; gifts; clothes and more in their café. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Comfy sofas and chairs that customers can sit on whilst they visit Unity Yard Café
The seating area at Unity Yard
A member of the Unity Yard team posing with a cup of coffee by the till in the Unity Yard Café
The inside of Unity Yard

The café has kindly supported the charity over the festive period by selling our very own Christmas Cards that were designed by students that attend Brian Jackson College during their art classes.

Unity Yard also have a Fresh Futures collection tub, collecting funds that goes towards supporting disadvantaged children, young people and their families. Fresh Futures looks forward to continuing this partnership into 2025 and beyond!

A member of the Unity Yard team has also given up their own time to volunteer as a Community Friend during the pandemic in 2020, making a weekly phone call to her matched friend every week for years to follow.

Interested in Volunteering:

If you would be interested in volunteering in Huddersfield or Batley, for a limited time we are running three Community Friend training sessions to the public!

Sessions at Brian Jackson House, Huddersfield will be taking place on:  

  • Wednesday 26 February, 9:30-11:30
  • Thursday 27 February, 17:00-18:30

And at Jo Cox House, Batley:

  • Wednesday 12 March, 10:00-12:00

After the session, the final steps will be completed including a DBS check and a short application, so you’ll be fully ready to start befriending and make a real difference!

For more information, please contact us today [email protected]!

a poster depicting the dates for volunteer training in Huddersfield and Batley.

Local business Langricks Chartered Accountants raise £1,550 for YCC!

Posted on by Katie Shephard

On 14th September, local business Langricks Chartered Accountants hosted their 6th annual charity golf day at the iconic Woodsome Hall Golf Club in Almondbury and raised an incredible £1,550 for Yorkshire Children’s Centre.

This year, Langricks who combine their team’s love of golf with raising money for charities, chose Yorkshire Children’s Centre as one of their charities, with special thanks to Camilla Langrick who is Langricks’ Business Development Director. Camilla is a Community Friend volunteer at Yorkshire Children’s Centre and has therefore seen first-hand the difference we make in the community to disadvantage children, young people and families. 

Once the big day was announced earlier this year, 80 players eagerly signed up to secure their place to attend the memorable annual event. As part of the day and to boost their fundraising, the team held a big raffle.

Camilla said “When a call out for raffle prizes was shared with the businesses in the Holmfirth Business Community, we were overwhelmed with the number of raffle prizes that were donated, including jewellery, beauty salon vouchers, a glamp at the Holme Valley Camping site, and even an MOT. The Holmfirth Business Community really delivered in the name of charity.”

“It is important to us that each year we give something back to the community that we live and work in, we were delighted to raise £1,550 for Fresh Futures this year, we know it is going to a very worthwhile cause.”

Fresh Futures would love to say a huge thank you to Camilla and the team at Langricks’ for choosing to support Fresh Futures this year.

Are you a local business looking to support a charity this Christmas and in 2024? Why not get in touch with us today to find out more about Fresh Futures and the work we deliver in Kirklees and surrounding areas.

This Christmas, we are running a Christmas Bauble campaign where we kindly ask businesses to sponsor a bauble for £50, and in return we will display your logo on a bauble which will be displayed on our Tree of Wishes in the Brian Jackson House.

Next year, we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary and to mark this special occasion we would like to connect with local businesses to support our exciting upcoming community initiatives and events.

To discuss how Fresh Futures could work with your business, please get in touch with us at: [email protected] or call: 01484 519988

#WeAreYCC

Thank you so much: Volunteers

Posted on by Katie Shephard

Here at Fresh Futures we are so grateful to each and every one of our volunteers who dedicate their precious time and expertise to support Fresh Futures. During Volunteer’s Week (1st – 7th June), it was important to us to let our volunteers know how much they mean to us, by organising events where we could all come together to share our stories, our favourite volunteering moments and to make some new friends.

Fresh Futures Community Connections team held a variety of events during the week including a ‘Walk and Lunch’ at Greenhead Park in Huddersfield and Batley Park, a Drop-In at Jo Cox House in Batley where volunteers could pop in for a cuppa and cake, and a Summer Afternoon Tea at Brian Jackson House for Fresh Futures Community Friends.

Volunteer Development Manager, Lucy Martin, said: “Thank you to everyone who attended the events over Volunteer’s Week. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! The contribution of our volunteer’s often goes unseen, but the impact they have in the lives of the children and families they support through their volunteering role is HUGE. We couldn’t do what we do without you, and we’d like to give our thanks and show our appreciation, not just during Volunteer’s Week, but all year round. We’ll look forward to doing it all again next year 😊.THANK YOU.”

We are also very excited to announce we now have 200 volunteers supporting YCC!

Thank You So Much: Kirklees Family Fair

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

In March, Fresh Futures and Kirklees Family Together, hosted the Kirklees Family Fair in Batley. This was a free event for children and families with refreshments, entertainment, information and advice. On the day there was face painting, balloon animals, parenting and early childhood support, child safety support and much more.

Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator at YCC, who helped organise the event said “We are delighted with the turnouts to our Family Fair events, with hundreds of families reached across our communities receiving advice, support and a really fun day out for all! We would like to thank all of the local groups for their participation. Following the success of the partnership, Fresh Futures are planning to continue the Batley & Spen, and Dewsbury & Mirfield partnerships for the next 12 months.”

The event took place during Ramadan so we ensured we supported the holiday by not having food or drink on display, no having any pork or alcohol on site and quiet spaces were available for reflection and prayer.

Maryam Kazi, a member of the local community said “I loved todays event it was really good, my little one has really enjoyed it as well. There was quite a lot of information that I didn’t know was offered in Kirklees, the home start activities were especially useful for a healthy start, and I’ve taken all the leaflets.”

Jo Cove, Community plus said “It’s a lovely event, a brilliant setting, its quite central in town and its been a really good turnout for this area, because it’s not always easy to engage people in Batley I find. I’ve got three people here pebble painting and one person doing stickers. It’s just coming together and doing an activity and having a chat about the services we provide helping people connect with what’s going on within their own communities. After COVID I think people are a little bit more reluctant to go out and about, there’s a lot of people struggling with anxiety and depression, so we can help people with that.”

Thank You So Much: Safety Rangers

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

For over a decade Fresh Futures has been leading Safety Rangers which is a multi-agency, interactive, accident prevention scheme aiming to reduce and prevent childhood accidents, increase awareness, and improve child health and wellbeing through a variety of fun teaching methods and scenarios.

Since 2017 when we partnered with Thriving Kirklees, we are so proud to have supported 4390 Year 5 pupils from 91 local schools, during 157 sessions.

We recently held a lovely celebration event at Huddersfield Fire Station to thank all our long-term partners that have worked with us to deliver Safety Rangers throughout the years:

  • West Yorkshire Police
  • West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
  • Northorpe Hall
  • Safer Kirklees
  • Kirklees Road Safety
  • South & West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust and
  • Huddersfield Town Foundation

We have received amazing feedback from those that have taken part in Safety Rangers over the years:

“Many thanks for organising Safety Rangers for us again this year. The children learnt lots and have taken away some really important information and messages” Teacher

“I liked learning about all the different things and I thought it was fun” Year 5 Pupil

“Talking to all the different services helped me learn how to keep myself safer. We talked about trusted adults with the police and this is really important” Year 5 Pupil

Katie Lockwood, Service Manager at Fresh Futures said “Without the continued support and time our partners have dedicated to the initiative, Safety Rangers wouldn’t have been as successful as it has been. All our partners have been invaluable, and without a doubt enhanced service delivery to ensure each session is as informative and enjoyable as the last.”

Thank You So Much: Bail Me Out

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

In March we ran the first ever Fresh Futures Bail Me Out event and it was a great success!

The aim of the day was to raise both awareness and funds for Fresh Futures by ‘locking up’ local businessmen and women who had to raise their bail money of £999 to be released from Harvey’s Bar/Kitchen, Huddersfield. Those involved raised an amazing £2,424 which will go directly towards supporting disadvantaged children, young people, and their families across Kirklees.

Our seven ‘criminals’ really got into the spirit of the event, which along with raising funds, was a great way for them to network with other local individuals.

THANK YOU, Christine Rhodes, Lucy Jackson, Helen Athey, Michelle Smith, Gareth Ewing, Sam Duffy, and Mark Duffy.

YCC’s Bail Me Out participants L-R: Michelle Smith, Helen Athey, Christine Rhodes, Lucy Jackson, Gareth Ewing, Mark Duffy and Sam Duffy

Lucy Jackson, who was ‘locked up’ on the day said “It was wonderful to support Fresh Futures with their Bail Me Out event. It’s almost 40 years since my dad, who set up YCC, died running in a fun run in Huddersfield to also raise money for the centre. It was great to see so much commitment from local people to keep all the great work Fresh Futures does going. Thank you again to everyone involved – even West Yorkshire police for arresting us!”

Th event was supported by several local businesses. Thank you Aura Print for supplying props, Harvey’s Bar/Kitchen for letting us take over their Westgate venue, Sam Teale Productions for filming on the day (video to follow) and PCSO Jordan Booth, from West Yorkshire Police, who came to Brian Jackson House to ‘arrest’ and transport our criminals to Harvey’s.

PCSO Jordan Booth of WYP
Lucy and Helen being ‘detained’

If you would like to donate towards this event you can visit our active Just Giving page HERE.

For more information on how to become a corporate supporter for Fresh Futures or if you would like to carry out a similar event to raise funds for Fresh Futures please contact [email protected].

Thank You So Much: Hopeful Families Celebration Event

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

At the end of January YCCs Hopeful Families team attended the Pluss and Hopeful Families Celebration Event at St John Smith’s Stadium. Six participants on Fresh Futures programme were presented with ‘Achievement Awards’ by the bestselling author and motivational speaker Richard McCann.

Hopeful Families Participants receiving their awards alongside Richard McCann

Individuals from three other delivery partners, Groundwork, Halifax Opportunities Trust, and Dominion Training also received awards. The event was well attended and a great way to celebrate the hard work of so many participants, whilst also enjoying a motivational speech delivered by Richard.  

Attendees at the celebration event

Katie Tierney, Family Mentor at Fresh Futures said, “It was a great day celebrating the achievements of the participants in Kirklees. One of our participants came on to the programme with no confidence and has gone on gone on to receive a Community Learning Award for commitment and engagement. Seeing how she has flourished and is now working towards her Maths and English qualifications has been amazing.”

Thank you to everyone that attended and for all the participants who have worked so hard during their time on the Hopeful Families programme.

Thank You So Much: Navy Professional

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

We would like to say a huge thank you to Rebecca Crawforth (Owner & Director of Navy) and the team at Navy Professional for nominating Fresh Futures as their chosen charity for the second year in a row.

They have raised an amazing £800 from the sales of their gorgeous Navy advent calendar and from sales at several Christmas markets.

We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with Rebecca and the team; and this generous donation will have a positive impact on the disadvantage children, young people and families we support at Fresh Futures.

To learn more about Navy, visit their website, or follow them on Instagram.

If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

Thank you so much: Stowe Family Law LLP

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

The team at Fresh Futures would like to say a big thank you to Stowe Family Law, who recently donated a generous £250 to the charity. We are so pleased that the firm has chosen to continue to support and build a relationship with Fresh Futures and we are extremely thankful for every donation we receive.

Stowe Family Law are a team of compassionate family solicitors with a strong track-record of success for clients in Huddersfield and across Yorkshire. You can visit their website here.

Stowe Family Law told YCC; “We are proud to support Fresh Futures for a second year with a donation towards their wonderful work improving the health & wellbeing of children, young people, and their families in the Yorkshire region. We wholeheartedly recommend that other local businesses get involved wherever possible.”

Fresh Futures aims to improve the lives of others, inspire change and to improve the wellbeing of the communities in Kirklees and surrounding areas. All donations we receive have a direct and positive impact on the disadvantaged and vulnerable children, young people, and families we support.

At Fresh Futures we value all our corporate partnerships, and we are keen to partner with a diverse range of business industries. There are many ways a business and their employees can get involved. If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.

Thank you so much: TK Maxx Homesense Foundation

Posted on by Lynne Haigh

Fresh Futures would like to say a huge thank you to the TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation for donating an extremely generous £1,000 from their Community Fund.  

The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation was set up in 2015 and its mission is to support children and young people to achieve their potential within their local communities. The Community Fund programme is dedicated to helping local grassroots charities and since March 2020 has been working particularly hard to support those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Associates (employees) from TK Maxx and Homesense stores, processing centres and offices across Europe, nominate local charities to receive grants that are doing great work in supporting the most vulnerable. In 2021, The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation made over 1,655 grants to support local communities and charities, such as food banks and mental health organisations, with £791,793 donated.

The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation comments: “We are delighted that The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation has been able to support so many charities. We are proud that our grants are making a difference to local communities where it really matters.”

Fresh Futures would like to take this opportunity to thank the TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation for their very generous donation and for nominating our charity to receive the grant.

Fresh Futures relies entirely on the generosity of others to help us raise the funds needed to deliver our range of services that support disadvantaged and vulnerable children, young people, and their families.

If you would like to support Fresh Futures in any way, then please contact [email protected] and find out how you or your organisation could get involved to Improve Lives and Inspire Change.