Our Stories

Our YP tell us often that F4YP swimming is the highlight of their week. We see many new friendships built at swimming and YP leaving with a sense of achievement where they have jumped in for the first time or completed a length without stopping for example. It’s rewarding to see YP improve in their ability to swim safely, especially as a river town where YP have lots of opportunities to swim in open water. One example of this is YPK who attended our summer 2022 provision and

YPC began their journey with F4YP finding it hard to make new friends and maintain relationships. F4YP began attending regular CIN meetings for YPC. Through these meetings it became apparent YPC struggled to regulate their emotions and behaviours and that they would benefit from our therapeutic support and attending our after-school clubs. YPC continued to attend our sports after school club and signed up for our holiday club. F4YP visited YPC at school prior to YPC’s first h

One success of the summer term 2023 was our senior paddle after-school course that culminated in our overnight camp. YP took part in a 9-week course, learning paddling skills on various crafts including canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. This group was made up of individuals who knew one or two attendees and finished with the whole group bonding and forming new relationships.  We invited these attendees to participate in our overnight camp which involved paddling on a journey

This is Natalie’s story, she chose to do her work experience week at F4YP and wrote down her story. “When me and my family moved to the UK in 2017, me and my brother didn’t know much English and it was a bit difficult to start conversation and make new friends. In 2019 we moved again, here to Bedford (Kempston) And me and my brother were a bit more confident with the language and my mum wanted to get us to go to a club, specifically a sports one. Then she found out about F4YP

We asked some of our team to tell us how they think F4YP has helped our community “F4YP it isn’t solely focused on the young person, we work behind the scenes to connect with parent/carers, agencies and schools, to ensure they are part of our community too. Whether it’s hosting coffee mornings or taking time to chat with parents/carers about their concerns, it’s paramount they feel supported too because this motivates them to sign their YP up to our clubs. Being a parent/care

YPB is currently in care, has an EHCP and has 1:1 support at school. F4YP received a referral for YPB to attend our summer provision. We completed a risk assessment consulting with their social worker and foster carer. The risk assessment showed that YPB was high risk and has experienced some episodes where their behaviour can escalate quickly, but given time is able to regulate themself.    YPB came to F4YP Summer Activities 2023 over 4 weeks, funded by HAF. On their first m

As a team, F4YP aim to identify YP who attend F4YP that would benefit from some therapeutic support. One such YP identified was YPG. YPG had previously been attending some after school clubs and holiday clubs but their attendance had dwindled in spring 2021. We contacted the family and who explained YPR was experiencing acute anxiety following COVID and they were struggling to get them out of the house. We invited them to attend therapy which they agreed to. F4YP collected th

YPA was placed in care alongside their younger sibling. When YPA started at F4YP they started off very shy and struggled with their speech. YPA’s foster carer already knew of Fun 4 Young People (F4YP) and wanted them to attend our holiday clubs. The first club they came to was summer 2020, they were extremely quiet and lacked confidence in reading and other sessions but always showed others kindness. F4YP staff have attended professionals' meetings for YPA since they started