Category: Recent Events

In June I attended one of the most surreal yet important events in my life. When you think of a BLM protest, I imagine you think of mobs of angry black men & women, causing violence and destruction against white people and their neighbourhoods. In some ways you would be right, but wrong in so many more.

This protest was organised by young teens, of which a large majority were white. Despite their youth, they were knowledgable, supportive and most importantly they were listening. They gave the people of the black community a platform to talk, shout and cry. They gave us a platform to express what racism means to us, how we have been affected and what we need from society to progress forward. I felt such a huge amount of pride and love throughout everyone involved despite this being an event that represents centuries of oppression, discrimination and pure undeniable hatred. To think there are people who would argue the rights of people like myself, or my family sickens me to my very stomach. To know that people out there that would fight to erase our existence terrifies me. And yet people ask “but what about all lives?” A question which I understand yet makes me laugh. That very question illustrates the entire issue at hand.

George Floyds murder signified the oppression we face from the white man. That a police officer would rather kneel on a mans neck for almost 9 minutes, killing him, rather than correctly perform his job as a guardian just because of the colour of his skin. Because we are seen as violent, poor, uneducated thugs. Because you want us to be anything other than your equal. Whole neighbourhoods were created to house poor black families, which became slums after the introduction of drugs and the reduction of local schools and jobs. We have been moulded and beaten into these convenient stereotypes for your disposal, treated like animals just for our darker skin tone.

But yet you steal our culture? Our words, our cuisine. You take our hair and our features and you cherry pick your fancy to discard the rest because it doesn’t fit your agenda. You ridicule us for our “crazy hair” and our “loud voices” but coo over your mixed race children like trophies. You cannot steal our culture but kill the people. You cannot have that which for so many years you have sought to destroy.

Racism to me is more than just the n-word. It’s the mockery of black men and women. The difference in white vs black murders involving police. The slurs. The ignorance. It’s pussyfooting around the issue, handing out tokenistic sentiments thinking that it erases the issue. You are the issue. Your mindset is the issue. The very belief that I am any less than you because of my skin is the issue.

We were delighted to host the monthly Home Day for the YMCA Fairthorne Group on Thursday 20th February. This is an event where different groups in the YMCA Fairthorne Group come together each month to discuss progress along with the directors, CEO’s and trustees. It was great to have different input from different teams presenting progress and future updates. Along with a presentation from ourselves to present all the new things we have planned for YMCA Basingstoke, highlighted by Adam our Community Manager with input from Cara and Shona the Youth Engagement Co-Ordinator’s. Donna and Gina did a great job as Front of House, giving a warm welcome to our guests.

Topics that we were delighted to share, included: our new windows, the launch of our YPASS programmes, the creation of our blog, our Internet Café and EduCare days and volunteering plans.

New windows- We have been having new windows fitted throughout our building, updating the white frames to tinted glass with black frames. So far the progress has been praised by our residents who have had the changes made to their rooms saying that it makes the rooms so much quieter and warmer. We also think it adds a modern look to the buildings, so it is a thumbs up all around!

YPASS programme launch- We will be launching our YPASS programmes 2nd March, starting with Jumpstart each morning which will provide our residents with breakfast to fuel them for the day ahead. Each day a cooking-based programme will take place. Food For Thought will take place Monday’s and Wednesday’s, an opportunity for people to talk about what is going on, issues and current affairs over lunch. Kitchen sink will occur on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, a fun practical course offering basic but essential cooking skills, healthy eating, meal prep, planning and budgeting, run by a volunteers. Peace, Love and Roast Potatoes will provide a nice end to the week on Friday’s which will adopt a family environment where our young people will shop together to prepare and cook a meal which will be ate together, ending with a group clean. Also on Fridays, Our Patch will take place, a resident-led programme allowing our residents to throw themselves into the heart of their community by taking responsibility for their home in gardening, maintenance, painting etc. Money Tree will take place on Monday’s, a programme that teaches money skills such as money management, budgeting and saving. Life Smart is a programme that teaches young people skills to keep safe and make everyday life easier, taking place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, whilst Empowered for Employment provides all the skills necessary to succeed in getting a job.

Blog creation- We have been working very hard on our Blog which provides a space for our residents to document their time with us and to show the community all that we do here at the YMCA Basingstoke.

Internet Café- As part of the YPASS programmes, we will be opening our Internet café on Wednesdays to our residents and anyone in the community that needs a space to get work done. Computers will be provided so people can write CV’s, apply for jobs, print things and complete EduCare Programmes etc. EduCare is a market-leading provider of high-quality, concise and easy-to-use safeguarding and duty of care e-learning service. They offer a variety of courses in health and safety, food safety, fire safety, first aid, moving and handling and so much more!

Volunteering- We are planning to create a resident volunteering committee, as part of our Super Heroes programme. This will be resident-led where our residents can volunteer throughout the community, giving back to the community and raising funds for us to be able to put back into our programmes. We have already had a lot of interest and ideas from our residents for this and we look forward to seeing what our young people do to provide for the community. Keep updated with these activities through our blog!

 

After the presentations we were joined by some of our residents for a buffet-style lunch where we were treated with a lovely spread of sandwiches, salads, fruits, flapjacks and so much more as you can see in the photos of the day! It was lovely to see so many of our residents interacting and it was great to host the Home Day for the first time!

 

• 

• 

• 

Cara Lucas 26.02.2020

On Tuesday the 4th of February YMCA Basingstoke hosted visitors from various YMCA’s in Scotland who were on a tour of the Fairthorne Group establishments, accompanied by CEO Chris Hand and Community Director Chris Heighway. After a tour of the building with Adam and Donna, our visitors were treated to Jono’s wonderful home cooked meal of Ricotta and garlic stuffed chicken, wrapped in bacon; creamy chicken and spinach pasta and chips. Some of you joined us for the delicious meal, which went down very well with all, we’ve even been told we deserve extra kitchen equipment so we can keep serving such fantastic food! 

The visit was a great opportunity to show not only what we already do here but how we want to develop the space and where we want to go in the future. We have big plans and it was nice for them to see some of our vision. Chris Hand was very happy to see the new windows going in, a sentiment I think we all agree with! He also commended “the hosting and excellent lunch”.  Thank you to everyone who came down to help out and eat with us, we hope to do a lot more meals in the future so if you couldn’t join us this time keep an eye out for next time and we’d love to see you! 

Shona 12.02.2020