📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
YMCA Fairthorne Group is a fast growing charity. Their mission is to champion and add value to young lives by providing experiences that challenge, enable and develop the individual. Fairthorne Manor, part of the Fairthorne Group, delivers outdoor education and environmental programmes to over 20,000 children and young people each year on both a residential and day basis.
The Young Carers Festival (YCF) is an exclusive event for young people who have a caring responsibility at home. Run in partnership with The Children\'s Society, YCF was created in 2000 to give young carers the chance to have fun away from their caring role, raise awareness of this often hidden group of young people and allow young carers to share experiences with others in a similar situation. 2015 saw the 16th annual festival with over 1,600 young people from across the UK attending.
💼 What the programme involves
The work would be to help with the preparation, getting ready the festival grounds with accommodation for young people - around 600 pop up tents, organising workshop areas - marking out activity areas, ensuring the grounds are ready - preparing the grounds (cutting back trees, litter picking etc.) as well as helping the organisers with paperwork, i.e. stapling the information packs, putting all paperwork in and labelling bags. There may be some lifting and carrying as the food for the weekend will arrive and need to be stored. Volunteers will also be involved in some food preparation to make sure that young people have packed lunches.
Then during the weekend itself, they will need to help in keeping the dining room flowing and clean, assisting with harness\'s and helmets on activities, taking drinks and food round to the staff, car parking and general marshalling of the event.
The YMCA hold a fireworks display, have a disco, fairground rides as well as our own activities, and the young people get a chance to just be themselves, without having to explain what they do, they can just be children again for the weekend.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers will be camping in yurts on campbeds all provided. There is bedding provided but please bring a sleeping bag for extra warmth. Three meals a day will be will be provided in the canteen and there are toilet and shower facilities and a washing machine.
📍 About the location
Fairthorne Manor is located in a village called Curdridge which is near the city of Southampton on the South Coast of England. It is about 15 minutes walk from Fairthorne Manor into the village where there are shops and pubs. The nearest train station is Botley which is about half an hour\'s journey into Southampton.
⚠️ Requirements
• Volunteers will need to provide a CV, certificate of good conduct /police check from home country, motivational letter, and provide two references, including one from their most recent school/ college or employer.