UK Youth’s Avon Tyrrell Bursary Fund – Information for
Donors
Dear Supporter
Please find below details of our young people’s bursary fund and how it
works. We need your support and hope you can make a donation. Learning new
skills outside of the formal classroom setting or away from the normal home
environment, can have real benefits for both young people and the communities
they live in. By running outdoor activity courses and learning opportunities, we
can help provide young people with the confidence, independence and
determination they need to face the responsibility of their adult lives. Raising aspirations,
realising potential and recognising achievement in young people are just some
of our key aims.
Bursary Summary
In line with UK Youth’s
charitable objectives to serve the needs of, and offer new opportunities to,
young people, we operate a bursary scheme whereby young people’s groups can
apply for financial help to send their members on residential trips to Avon
Tyrrell Activity Centre. This is effectively giving a large discount or even
free spaces against the normal advertised prices.
The fund is built up using
donations from many individuals, trusts, foundations, corporate sponsors as
well as from any available surplus funds from operating Avon Tyrrell. The
simple aim of the bursary is to offer as many opportunities as possible for
young people to participate in activities, educational courses, informal
learning experiences and to gain new skills at Avon Tyrrell for the benefit of
all. This scheme helps those young people who, for whatever reason, might not
normally be able to afford to attend.
The bursary fund was set up in
2006 to gain one-off and regular on-going donations, with the first applicants
in early 2007.
Please send a cheque to, or contact, the Projects Director at Avon Tyrrell if
you are or know any individual or organisation that could help, or would like
further information on the Avon Tyrrell Bursary Fund. Please make cheques out
to ‘ Avon Tyrrell UK Youth’ and send
to Avon Tyrrell, UK Youth, Bransgore, Hampshire BH23 8EE
Many thanks
R.L.Bonney
Projects Director Email louis@ukyouth.org
How it works
The bursary fund is held in
its own high interest account. It is administered by the Directors of UK Youth
in conjunction with the Charity Trustees. A Director of the charity oversees
and decides on the applications received and meets with a representative of the
Trustees to verify these. Those groups that meet the criteria and are approved,
are notified as to the amount of the award. The Finance Team of UK Youth is
also notified and the group’s invoice will be adjusted accordingly. Periodically,
approved bursary funds are then transferred from the fund account into the main
operating account of UK Youth.
Any funds allocated are
solely for the accommodation and activities cost at Avon Tyrrell, and are not
for other expenses including travel to and from the centre. All UK Youth staff
continually aim to promote the scheme in order to build up the fund.
Criteria for awarding a bursary
We aim to support young
people who may be disadvantaged in some way, whether it’s from where they live,
their socio/economic background (we use standard methods for categorising this),
physical or mental disability, perhaps they are on the verge of being excluded
from school for whatever reason, are a young carer, or have suffered forms of abuse,
been involved in crime, overcoming drugs etc.
We aim to support quality
youth work that improves the lives of all young people, and so although you may
think a group doesn’t seem to fit into the usual idea of a ‘disadvantaged’
group, they may well be still eligible for help so are encouraged to apply.
There are no hard and fast
rules here other than the upper age limit is 25 years old for individuals
within a group, we only accept applications from within the UK and from
bona-fide young peoples organisations. Applicants can request help for the
whole group or just for individual young people within a group.
We expect for any awards
made, to get feedback from the young people after their visit. Our supporters
like to be kept informed, and that good regular feedback means people are
likely to support the scheme more.
There will be times when,
even though an application might seem to meet our criteria, we still can’t make
an offer, perhaps due to limited funds and sheer demand. The Directors and
Trustees have sole discretion over the operation of the bursary.
Application Process
There is a straightforward
application form for all interested people.
Groups are encouraged to go
through the Avon Tyrrell brochure or visit www.avontyrrell.org.uk
to get a feel for what they want to do at Avon Tyrrell, then call the Customer
Services team to discuss their accommodation and activity requirements and make
a provisional booking. Once they have a firm idea (and of the costs) of what
they want to do and have made a provisional booking, they simply call, email or
write to:
Avon Tyrrell Bursary Fund,
c/o The Projects Director, Avon Tyrrell, UK Youth, Bransgore, Hampshire BH23
8EE T: 01425 672347 E: louis@ukyouth.org
Groups are told to keep the
application as straightforward and concise as possible, and add any supporting
material. We just need telling in plain English what amount of support they are
looking for and why. They need to outline in the application how the whole
group, or just individuals within it,
meet our criteria. They are reminded that any funds allocated are solely for
the accommodation and activity programme costs at Avon Tyrrell, and are not
meant for other expenses inc. travel to and from the centre.
They are encouraged to make
contact and send in the application in plenty of time for it to be assessed,
well before the actual provisional booking date. The Bookings team will hold
provisional bookings until a decision on funding is made. We aim to do this as
quickly as possible.
How donors can help
Every young people’s group
has different needs and hence their visit to Avon Tyrrell will vary in costs to
some degree depending on what their programme involves, but below are examples
of how donors support works, based on current prices;
£25 pays for a days activity visit for 1 young person.
£100 pays for a weekend away
for 1 young person, staying self-catering with a full activity programme.
£250 pays for 1 young person
to have a week (Mon-Fri) full board stay with a full activity programme.
£1000 pays for 4 young people
staying for a week (Mon-Fri), full-board with a full activity programme.
£5000 pays for 50 young
people staying for a weekend self-catering or 20 full board mid-week with
activities.
£10,000 pays for 100 young
people staying over a weekend self-catering with activities, or 30 people for a full 7 day visit full-board
with a full activity programme.
There are many more
possibilities, so any donation, whether it’s £25 or £100,000, will really help
and make a big difference in making Avon Tyrrell available to more and more
young people. The bigger the fund, the more places we can offer.
If a donor wants to give
money towards a specific project or area of work for young people, we’ll hold
and allocate it for just that. You can make a one-off or regular on-going
donation.
To operate successfully, the
bursary scheme relies on financial support from individuals, charitable trusts
/ foundations, legacies, government organisations or from companies. We will
send donors feedback from beneficiaries so they know how their money is used.
Some Recent
Visitor Quotes
“We had a
fantastic three days at Avon Tyrrell. The raft-building exercise was the most
wonderful experience for me to witness in over ten years of dealing with special
needs students. Thank you!”
Teacher,
“We were very impressed by
the high standard of instruction provided. All your staff who led the various
activities interacted very well with the team, listened to and responded to their
needs and concerns, whilst also stretching and challenging them.”
Youth Team Leader, Princes Trust Group, Merton
“Thank you so much for making this weekend so much fun, we’ve really
enjoyed ourselves!”
The children from Piam Brown Ward,
“Many thanks for a fantastic week at Avon Tyrrell. The young people
thoroughly enjoyed themselves, it was great to see how independent and
confident they had become by the end of the week. As usual the food and
facilities were excellent and the staff so helpful and friendly. We’re already
looking forward to next years visit!”
Beecholme, Mitcham
Background information
Situated in 65 acres of beautiful grounds in
the New Forest Hampshire, and the former home of Lord Manners, Avon Tyrrell has a 60 year history of
providing new experiences & opportunities for thousands of young people. As
UK Youth’s National Activity & Residential Centre, around 20,000
young people visit each year for educational courses, holidays and to
participate in activities such as climbing, canoeing, archery, abseiling,
ropes, swimming, environmental studies, team-building and personal development
courses. The centre provides full-board facilities in the ‘Arts & Crafts’
Grade 1 listed Avon Tyrrell House, and self-catering facilities within the
estate, as well as being open to day visits for more local groups. Further
information at www.avontyrrell.org.uk
The charity UK Youth raises young people’s expectations, realises their potential and recognises their achievements -
through informal education. It supports high quality
voluntary youth work and informal educational opportunities for young people,
through a range of projects, accredited learning programmes, events and
publications. It is the largest non-uniformed national voluntary youth
organisation in the