Youth Alliance: Children and Young People Network meeting – June 2026
- Admin
- Jun 26
- 3 min read
Last week we held our quarterly Youth Alliance Children and Young People’s network. We had the pleasure of hosting this event at St Alkmund’s Church, which is always an excellent venue for the different events hosted by Community Action Derby. We had over 50 professionals in attendance, all of whom share the same goal of enhancing the quality of life for as many children and young people across the city.
Helen Britten our Programme Lead for the Youth Alliance started the morning with a warm welcome to all our attendees and speakers and gave an overview of the meeting.
Presentations from guest speakers
The meeting began with Isabelle Grainger from Erewash CVS who kindly provided an overview of their Mental Health and Suicide Prevention (MHSP) Project as well as an insight to her job role as the project officer. For those who are not familiar with this project, it is based at Erewash Voluntary Sector who are passionate in supporting and strengthening voluntary and community groups across Erewash. The 4 areas they deliver include: Volunteering Centre, Mental Health Team, Social Prescribing and Community Development.
To find out more about the fantastic work they deliver please visit their website: https://www.erewashvoluntaryaction.org.uk/mental-health-suicide-awareness
Contact Isabelle via her email: isabelle@erewashcvs.org.uk
Jay Plimmer from Ozzy Wheels was up next and he focussed his presentation on sharing the journey of Ozzy wheels and what’s to come. He highlighted the fantastic work they have achieved so far and what they are hoping to deliver going forward, such as looking to find a space to hold their new exciting offers. If you know a venue, with a high ceiling, which could be suitable for all things wheel related, don’t hesitate to get in touch with them!
Visit their Facebook page: here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/450755585736503
Contact Jay via his email: jayplimmer@gmail.com
Shortly after, we welcomed Danny Page and Will Boyland from Constructing Futures, who have very recently joined our network and were hoping to spread the word about their work. They highlighted that they bring more than 40 years of experience between them across special educational needs and alternative provision settings, to help them deliver their new programme.
Their mission is simple and it is to empower individuals through developing practical, hands-on skills as well as offering accredited training the following: carpentry, joinery, brick working, painting, decorating, plumbing and health and safety.
Visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61584415149762
Contact them on: admin@constructingfuturesltd.co.uk
Following from constructing futures, Amanda Solloway from Children First presented about the services Children First provide, alongside some information on the anti-bullying campaign they delivered last year. The three main areas of Children First’s services focus on include Supervised Family Time, Family Support and Mentoring Service.
Their antibullying campaign was a great success and brought together a variety of young people involved in the Children’s First Derby Mentoring Service Youth Forum, a video which can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVyoNnT6Pc&t=2s
To find out more about the work they do visit their website: https://childrenfirstderby.co.uk/
Contact Amanda via her email: Amanda.Solloway@ChildrenFirstDerby.co.uk
To wrap up the presentations from our guest speakers, Janet Holland was the last one to take the stage, where she kindly shared updates in relation to Arboretum Matters.
Community Action Derby was successful in their application for the East Midlands Mayor’s Community Development Fund which will enable work to be developed and delivered with community groups and organisations in the Arboretum area.
The day before our network meeting, they held their ‘Call to Action’ Arboretum Matters, where they shared important updates, to which Janet fed back to the network.
There will also be an event in Arboretum Park on Sat 4th July to share more information and engage residents and providers from the area.
Contact Janet via her email: janet@practicallyleading.co.uk
For more information about the Youth Alliance and the Children and Young People’s network event please contact either myself (Rebecca.middleton@communityactionderby.org.uk) or Helen (Helen.britten@communityactionderby.org.uk)
Next meeting date will take place on the 24th of September, with further details to come at a later date. Hopefully we will see you there!
For more information about the Youth Alliance Children and Young People’s Network, or to get involved, please visit: YA / CYP Network | Derby Youth Alliance
@DerbyYouthAlliance on Facebook and Instagram.
