This year is very special to us as we celebrate our Diamond Jubilee Anniversary and look back over God's provision for NAYC during the past 60 years.

Following the past two difficult years we have all endured, young people in particular have had to adjust to dramatic changes in their education, home life and employment opportunities and the effects are still far reaching. As you know our goal is to improve self-esteem, social skills, and self-confidence by encouraging young people to take part in activities designed to enhance their well-being.

We have several planned projects to develop our work and would love if you could support us.

Kings Park

At the King's Park site, NAYC has a vision to develop the Spinney woodland area to serve groups and young people from the local community, such as schools, special needs groups, local support groups, youth groups and also the church and charity groups who use the residential facilities for retreats, training and weekends away.

The plan is to develop the Spinney to provide a new outdoor sheltered learning space where children and teenagers can have hands-on experience learning about nature and respecting its beauty and purpose. Groups will be able to run their own sessions or attend one run by the dedicated teams of youth development leaders. It is planned to create a sensory garden, install birdboxes, insect hotels and raised beds with flowers, plants and herbs alongside the seating areas enabling education on nature and hands-on learning.

Natural spaces are proven to assist with relaxation and improve mental health and by using our centres young people have the opportunity to alleviate their anxieties and process feelings creating their own toolbox for strategies to help them with their well being.

We also plan to create a playground with exciting equipment, trim trail with security fencing around the site, safe and accessible paths and safe flooring.

Youth Development

Our plan for Youth Development is to continue our support to set up new youth groups in areas of greatest need. A wonderful example of this is when Grange Park Youth Club in Northampton opened at the community centre for local young people aged 9 to 14yrs, providing a fun, safe and friendly place for young people to meet, providing them with activities, sports, crafts and a place specifically for them where they could just 'chill'. The first ever session was attended by over 50 young people and the number increased to 70 in the second week. Incredibly within 2 months the number of young people attending had topped 100. Within a year the youth club had over 300 registered members. Our Youth Development team were pivotal in making this happen, helping with planning meetings, DBS's, insurance and all the practical advice that is needed in opening a new club.

Anything you can contribute towards these exciting projects would be so helpful; £5, £50 or £500+ (whatever you can afford), it all makes a difference to the lives of young people!