Timeline
Myplace Fund
In May 2008 the Government launched the Myplace fund which meant that a state of the art facility for Carlisle was possible. At the same time, local businessman Brian Scowcroft had experienced Bolton Lads and Girls Club and was keen to have something similar for Carlisle. Starting with strong foundations from the Bolton model, Carlisle Youth Zone was an idea in fruition.
Founder Patrons
Brian Scowcroft linked with local business people David Allen, Andrew Tinkler and William Stobart and they set about getting Carlisle a Youth Zone – without these founders to push the development of Carlisle Youth Zone forward, we may not be here today. The development and build process lasted until April 2011.
The Opening
In April 2011 Carlisle Youth Zone opened it’s doors to the young people of Carlisle for the first time. With David Allen as Chair, he led CYZ through its opening and first years. This was a time filled with great excitement of just what was CYZ and how could everyone get involved.
Radio 1 Big Weekend Volunteer Day
We hosted the Radio 1 Big Weekend Volunteer Day on 7th May 2011 – ahead of Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Carlisle.
Royal Visit
We had a visit from royalty! His Royal Highness The Duke Of Gloucester came to CYZ on 29 November 2011.
CYZ Stagecoach Bus
We gained our first Stagecoach Bus – designed by a member – which would travel around the City of Carlisle ’till 2016 when a new design was put unveiled.
2012 London Olympics
The Olympic torch passed us on its way through Carlisle. We also ran Olympic themed activities during our club sessions over the summer!
New Arrivals
In 2013, David Allen – founder Chairperson stepped down from the Board. Chris Holmes was the new appointment for this pivotal role.
Key appointments were also made with Murray Winters appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Lynsey Buckle appointed to Business Development Manager – two appointments which would be transformational for CYZ.
Carrs Group PLC Become a CYZ Patron
In 2014, Carrs Group PLC became an extremely valued Patron – a relationship which is still going strong & will last for years to come.
CYZ’s First Business Breakfast
The first Business breakfast was held at CYZ, with John Stevenson MP as the speaker.
Mentoring Project
With Funding from the Police Crime Commissioner for Cumbria, CYZ set up a joint 3-year Mentoring Project. The aim of the project is to keep youngsters out of trouble, targeted at those young people who are experiencing difficulties in their life, and who needed a positive role model.
CYZ’s First Raceday
In the summer of 2014, the first CYZ Raceday was held and raised over £25,000 of funding. This is now an annual fixture in the diaries!
Zchef Collaboration
In partnership with the Shabby Scholar, CYZ hosted Zchef – with the lucky winner, Callum Allardice, winning an apprenticeship at the Shabby Scholar Bar and Restaurant in Carlisle.
Aviva Community Vote Winner
We won £10,000 in the Aviva community fund, after a public vote. This was to enable us to run our Make it, Bake it, Cook it, Share it, Eat it project, which aimed to teach basic skills to young people about nutrition, basic cooking skills, household budgets etc
Storm Desmond – The Flood
On 5 December 2015 Storm Desmond struck Carlisle. After what seemed like endless rain in the previous months, Storm Desmond was the Storm that broke Carlisle.
Carlisle Youth Zone, like many, many other businesses and homes, was flooded. The entire ground floor was under 4ft of dirty, smelly water. Absolutely nothing, from furniture to IT equipment, to kitchen equipment to the plaster on the walls and even the floor was salvageable. It all had to go.
We were absolutely heartbroken, Carlisle Youth Zone had been wiped out.
#TeamCYZ was inspiring and confident; Storm Desmond would not beat us! Having gained access to the building, together we worked on plans to continue to ensure every young person living here in Carlisle had a safe and fun place to visit. It’s with a massive heartfelt thanks to people, local businesses, volunteers and staff for their generosity and support that we were able to transform the 1st and 2nd floor of the building and were back open after only 10 days!
We commenced 2 years worth of building work to restore our building to its former glory.
Recovery Begins
CYZ wasn’t about to let this absolute devastation defeat it. Within a week the first and second floors were open providing free Holiday Club and food to any young person and their families affected by the floods.
CYZ was there to provide the emotional support young people required, as many of our members had also had their own homes devastated too. Everywhere they knew was gone – home, school, friends gone, families split up. That was why we wanted some continuity at CYZ for them.
Get a Future Launched
We launched our “Get A Future” project, in partnership with Armstrong Watson – a 3-year project with the aim of encouraging young people to think ambitiously about their future here in Carlisle.
We work with local businesses that are willing to provide a varied range of opportunities and then match them to young people interested in a career in that field.
Awarded £100,000 from the Queens Trust
We were awarded £100,000 from the Queen’s Trust for investment – and only to be used should another disaster ever strike CYZ.
We were also awarded Prince of Wales Trust donation for the work being undertaken with young people throughout the flood period.
New Stagecoach Bus Design
2016 was the year that we got a new livery on a Stagecoach bus. We’re really pleased that stagecoach supports us in this way, and can spread the word about CYZ all over Carlisle!
Holiday Club – With A Twist
Even the floor needed to be replaced after the flood – there was water that was still trapped 7 months on, and the only way to remove it was to dig up the floor. This meant, along with the greatly reduced space we had available, there would be noisy and dirty construction works going on. It wouldn’t have been practical to run a holiday club from CYZ – but we didn’t want to let our members down.
Instead, we organised to run our popular HITZ club from Carlisle College instead – All the usual activities still went ahead, and we had a great turn out!
Carlisle Living Awards – Best Team
Everyone was up on their feet when we were announced as the winners of the Best Team in the Carlisle Living Awards 2016.
We were delighted to win. After the floods, it had been a really hard year working with greatly reduced capacity – but everybody was in it together and by working together we would pull through and come out the other side stronger, all the time being there for our young people.
Not only did we win in the “Best Team” category, but our Get A Future project was a finalist for the innovation award; Lynsey, our Development Coordinator was a finalist for the leadership award; and Murray, our CEO was a finalist for the Best Boss award!
Awarded the Golden Apple Award for Youth in the CN Awards
We were awarded the ‘Golden Apple Award for Youth’ for Youth Work in the CN Awards 2016.
Storm Desmond Rebuild – Reception
As part of our recovery from Storm Desmond, we rearranged our ground floor. This involved creating a new reception area, and a new front door!
1 Year Post Flood
We’re back downstairs – with the exception of the reception area, the ground floor is back in business – and we LOVE it!
Everything is shiny and new, there are big TVs in the rec area, a new 3G astroturf. The sports hall is back in business and everything is coming together again!
With our shiny new ground floor though, we need to make upstairs match – the gym is now to move into the old blue room – which had been our main rec area for the last year – and we are still without catering facilities. The old gym is to be turned into our new cafe.
OnSide Presidents Cup 2017
In 2017 we hosted the 5th annual OnSide Youth Zones Presidents Cup right here in Carlisle!
It engaged over 280 young people from 11 Youth Zones, travelling to Carlisle from all over the country to participate in a day of challenge and competition.
From graffiti designs, wheelchair basketball and gym challenges, to mascot designs, dodgeball and an epic dance-off, the day had it all.
Seeing young people from all different areas and differing backgrounds come together in an overarching celebratory event was amazing
Official Highlights
People’s Project – Xpressions
We won the public vote in the People’s Project 2017. The money enabled us to turn our ‘Xpressions’ music & multimedia dream into a reality – we now have a state-of-the-art music studio, right here at CYZ!
Partenrship with Beaumont College
2017 also saw Beaumont College move in. They are an inclusive further educational organisation offering programmes for young people aged 18-25.
Based in Lancaster, with satellite services in Barrow, Blackpool and Carlisle, they chose to have their Carlisle programme based in CYZ for the fantastic facilities that we can offer – and we are delighted to have them!
More information about what Beaumont College offer is available from their website.
Most Successful Raceday So Far!
The CYZ annual Race day was a huge success – We fundraised a whopping – £25k for the Youth Zone, making it our most successful raceday yet!
We absolutely thank the local businesses that very generously donated a gift for our prize draw and those attending for the phenomenal support in helping to make this event a success.
Desmond’s Diner
Almost 2 years after the floods, we finally have our catering facilities back – meaning we can offer delicious, nutritious, and affordable food to our members while at CYZ.
We had to take the decision to move our kitchen to the first floor, which means should another flood strike, all of our catering equipment will be safe. The focus was initially on getting the ground floor back in business, but once that was done, we were able to transform our old gym into a brand new cafe & training kitchen.
Named “Desmond’s Diner” – a reference to storm Desmond – it was officially opened in late 2017, and our members LOVE it, as do we!
OnSide Presidents Cup 2018
In 2018 our CYZ members travelled to The Way youth zone in Wolverhampton to participate in the annual president’s cup with 11 other youth zones – Carlisle’s Youth Zone team included members from Senior, Junior and Inclusion Club, aged 8 to 25-years-old. It was six young people from Inclusion Club who were the winners on the day.
Give A Day 2018
In 2018 a team of amazing volunteers helped to transform our outdoor area into a bright and fun space – adding colour to our building and games to the floor!
Carlisle Pageant
We had a group of young people & staff attend Carlisle Pageant – it was great fun.
Prism Arts organized the event and supporting workshops at CYZ to help make our displays
Carlisle Living Awards – Best Place To Work
We were nominated for the Carlisle Living Awards 2018 – this year for “Best Place To Work” and “Best Arts or Cultural Initiative”. Unfortunately, we didn’t scoop the award this year – but there was some tough competition!
Freiraum International Art Exchange Launch
Freiraum is an art exhibition celebrating the start of an international art exchange project funded by the Gothe Institute and is a part of a 42 city project to bring together young people from across Europe to explore aspects of freedom and isolation.
The Great Cumberland-CYZ Bake Off
The Cumberland sponsored the “Great Carlisle Youth Zone Bake Off”. WE managed to serve almost 100 young people cake, and 8 participants took away prizes!
Culture Bazaar 2019
On Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th February, we held part of the Culture Bazaar in CYZ. We ran a variety of activities for the visitors and had a “chill out zone” upstairs for teenagers.
OnSide Presidents Cup 2019
What another unforgettable President’s Cup! Unfortunately, we didn’t win, but a huge congratulations to The Way Youth Zone for taking home the trophy for the second time and to Wigan Youth Zone for being such amazing hosts!
We had over 400 young people come together from across the network, making new friends, having fun, and taking part in a contest filled with friendship and sportsmanship.
Diary Room Opening
As part of a Children In Need funded project, a new diary room has been installed at CYZ – and who else would be better to open it than Pudsey himself!
Kingmoor Cup 2019
#KingmoorCup2019 – We had the best day.
Businesses and young people joined forces to compete for the Kingmoor Trophy. An event that celebrated 20 years of Kingmoor Park and the close relationship between Kingmoor Park and Carlisle Youth Zone.
10 teams competed in challenges which included a giant inflatable obstacle course, a bush tucker eating challenge, a music quiz, and even poop the potato.
So many laughs and so many memories created. Thank you to the teams, young people, and all staff and volunteers involved in making the day so worthwhile.
You can see the full image gallery here
CYZ Family Fun Run 2019
As part of the Carlisle Half, we had a 2k fun run – loads of members attended and it was a great day for all!
Thank you to Kingmoor Park for sponsoring the race and donating tickets for our members!
Carlisle Puppet Pageant 2019
We had a wonderful time taking part in Carlisle Puppet Pageant 2019. We designed a puppet and banners in club to push through Carlisle town center as part of the parade!
Lifelines Exhibition @ Tullie House
Thursday 19th September was the opening of LifeLines, an intergeneration project linking CYZ members with care home residents and Tullie House, funded by the NLHF.
Together we’ve made an exhibition which was on display in Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust‘s Community Gallery until Sunday 6th October.
OnSide Tour De Youth Zones
Carlisle Croydon – 500 Miles.
A team of dedicated cyclists from across the whole OnSide network embarked on the mammoth cycle, averaging 100 miles a day all the way from CYZ to Legacy in Croydon. Our very own Julie took part, and a combined £50,000 was raised across the network!
OnSide Awards 2019
Two of our wonderful members were nominated for an OnSide award – they travelled to London for the ceremony at The Royal Albert Hall – and we mustn’t forget Ben’s solo!
They even got to meet Prince Harry!
Christmas Dinner 2019
On our last day before Christmas, we server 200 Christmas Meals to our members – Inclusion Club, Junior Club, and Senior Club members all LOVED the day, having a fresh Christmas meal with their friends.
CYZ Family Fun Run 2020
It was the community sporting event many feared would never happen….
But against the odds the Carlisle Half Marathon, 10km, and Fun Run went ahead as planned on Sunday 15 March 2020, giving hundreds of enthusiastic competitors what may be their last chance for months to enjoy a community running event that took them through the heart of historic Carlisle.
Along with several other cities across the UK, the popular Sunday morning event defied the nation’s coronavirus fears and went ahead as planned.
Covid-19
Yet again, disaster struck meaning we had to temporarily close our doors – but this time it was global. We wouldn’t let that defeat us. Now more than ever the young people of Carlisle needed us.
We launched #CYZTV, and across the OnSide network, #YZatHome was launched – to give young people great activities from familiar faces to try while stuck at home.
Not only did we publish online activities, host youth worker takeovers, and share our member’s achievements, but we were there as a listening ear for our young people – We were happy to receive messages and offer support where we could during these difficult times.
Later on, as the lockdown was gradually relaxed, we launched #CYZOnTheRoad – heading into our member’s local communities to make use of outdoor spaces in a safe way.
#CYZOnTheRoad – Outreach Sessions
At the beginning of June, as restrictions were being gradually relaxed, we launched #CYZOnTheRoad outreach sessions. This was done in two phases, in line with safety guidance.
- We visited different communities to carry out check up’s / catch up’s with our members – a safe space for any child to chat to a youth worker about the impacts of the last few months both positive and negative.
- As the restrictions were lifted, and only when safe to do so we started to bring everything good about the Youth Zone to the member’s local areas. That means a safe space, fun, a range of activities, food, music, sports, challenges, a space to meet friends, advice and guidance along with much, much more. We wanted to make the summer of 2020 one to remember for all the right reasons!
Summer 2020
Over 100 days after closing our doors, we were given the go-ahead to implement new safety systems and procedures, and gradually & safely reopen to give young people the sort of face to face support and connection they need following many months of isolation.
Lots of sanitiser, masks, posters, barriers, and tape later, we were ready to open sessions up to small, pre-booked groups.
The limited numbers and strict safety measures meant we continued our Zoom and outreach based sessions for members who weren’t ready to come down just yet.
Wider On-Site Offering
Although still on a pre-booking basis, with limited numbers and with strict safety protocols still in place, we returned to more familiar club-based sessions.
Senior members were able to choose an activity to attend, and Junior members were able to book onto a small group session, and within that session there was a choice of activities which they could move between.
Activities for young people
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Volunteer with Carlisle Youth Zone
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