🎉 Today marks our official birthday and brings our year of #20for20 celebrations and challenges to a close. 🎉

On this day in 2005, Les and Carolyn were employed by Leonard Cheshire to run a six-month pilot project to establish a youth work provision for young people with disabilities in the Furness area.

They were handed a folder containing the details of 60 young people and given one task – come up with something.

After securing a building and developing a model, the first club opened with six young people, two staff members, and four occupational therapy students.

It quickly became evident that there was a real demand. More and more groups were added, which has now led to 11 separate groups (not including one-off projects and holiday provision).

Les said:

*“What we started was never meant to become as big as it has, and to be honest, we never thought we’d still be here 20 years later. It has been fantastic to see young people grow into adulthood – and in some cases, return to volunteer with us.

The youth work process of supporting young people with their social and emotional development really does work, although at times it can take a long time.”*

Over the years we have achieved so much and have grown to offer over 11 regular sessions each week. We have also adapted our services, expanding to include support for young adults with SEND in the local area.

There are far too many stories and achievements to list here – we would still be posting them for the next 20 days! However, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have made our journey possible.

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💙 Firstly, our funders
• Francis Scott Trust, one of our main funders for the past 20 years – without them, we wouldn’t have got past 20 weeks, never mind 20 years.
• James Fisher Foundation, for supporting us consistently over the last 20 years.
• BBC Children in Need, who funded the original pilot and went on to support us for a further 16 years.
• Cumbria Community Foundation, who have supported us in many ways – not only YouthAbility, but also the community centre.
• Local councils and funders who have also made a significant positive impact on our service.

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💙 The local community

A huge thank you to local families, communities, and businesses who year after year generously support us both financially and practically. You are the backbone that keeps this service running.

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🤝 Our partners

Thank you to our partners who have helped shape our service over the years and worked alongside us to ensure young people’s voices are heard at all levels of the decision-making process.

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🌟 Our volunteers

A massive thank you to our incredible volunteers. Over the years we have had hundreds, and we are truly grateful for your time, dedication, and commitment to ensuring young people have the best possible opportunities in life. You may never fully realise the impact you have had – but it has been profound.

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🧩 Our trustees

Thank you to our trustees for ensuring the service continues to run smoothly:
• Jez Mark
• Louise Ellis
• Loraine BBDA

A special and heartfelt thank you to our Chair, Cath Corkill, and Craig Backhouse, who stepped in to support Les in creating the new YouthAbility youth service in 2021, when Leonard Cheshire withdrew local provision. Without their support and guidance, YouthAbility would have had to close.

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Once again, thank you to everyone. And here’s hoping that in another 20 years we’ll be posting something very similar 💙✨

📸 We’ve collated thousands of photos from across the years into one place (they’re not all neatly organised yet, but we’re getting there!). Please feel free to browse:

👉 https://www.flickr.com/photos/194868476@N08/

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