We are delighted to announce that the two consortiums we are a part of, Battersea Alliance and Youth Battersea, won awards at the Houses of Parliament yesterday, for the “Collaboration Project” and “Youth Project”.
Ahmed was referred over to us by the Youth Justice Service 2.5 years ago following an exclusion from school and an incident with police. There was a slightly rocky start, but he soon focused on personal development, education, and boxing. He went on to complete his GCSE’s, qualify as a gym instructor and has been volunteering for us for the last 12 months. He is currently doing paid work experience with us and last month we celebrated his success with an award of his own pads, a bike to help him get to and from the gym and a list of quotes from staff and participants.
We are excited to announce that Carney’s will be hosting the Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Show on Sunday 12th November.
Tickets can be purchased on the door from 12pm, we hope to see you there!
Want to join the team at Carney’s? We’ve got a new position open for a full time Key Worker, working one to one with young people and supporting them to reach their full potential. Click the link here for more details: https://uk.indeed.com/job/key-worker-2e28e82011ca3a14
We took part in the first ever boxing event at the Old Bailey, where we had three of our participants competing (2 wins and one loss). A huge well done to those who competed!
Did you know if you’re a higher rate taxpayer you can get tax back on your donation?
I’m sure you know that as a charity we can claim gift aid on taxpayer’s donations. For example, Zebedee*, a generous Carney’s supporter, donates £100 including gift aid so we get an additional £25 from the government, making a total donation of £125. But because Zebedee earns over £50,270 a year he can claim back an extra £25 on this donation, the relief on the higher rate of tax, which he can choose what to do with. You have to claim this higher rate relief yourself, either through your self-assessment tax return if you do one, or by contacting HMRC. You can even claim back on the past four years of donations you’ve made. If you want more information there’s a helpful article on Money Saving Expert about this: www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/gift-aid.
Some people chose to “pre-donate” the extra tax relief, knowing they’ll get it back. If Zebedee donated the additional £25, knowing he would get it back, Carney’s would actually get a little over £150 including the gift aid and Zebedee would get slightly more than £25 back. Go to the article above for the exact math. That extra £50 could pay for the coaches to run a boxing session for vulnerable young people. At the end of November our Christmas Big Give Fundraising campaign is coming up, keep this in mind for then. Or if you just can’t wait till then we can always use your support:www.justgiving.com/carneyscommunity
*Yes, Zebedee is fictional.
Whilst we aim to celebrate everyone’s history every month, to try an create some societal equity, we are celebrating black history month in October and we kicked off with a poetry workshop, delivered by one of our key workers, Tunde. Here is the final poem and some pictures:
S.T.O.P
Solve This Ongoing Problem (part 2.)Unjustification,
there’s no need for such aggression,
Living in pain, when we’re trying to live in peace,
people, we need to start talking, use our voices more, to help this violence cease.
“Do no harm, Don’t use violence, Don’t be aggressive to one another,” use your words instead,
we need to help prevent the fights, shootings & stabbings, there’s too many of our young people dead.
If you carry a weapon, it’s you who needs help, you should STOP & ask yourself why?…
‘cos if it’s a lesson you’re trying to teach, are you seriously prepared to take a life, who really gains when they die?!
Broken hearted, angry, with feelings of loss, hurt, sadness & I’m in pain,
about this loss of care, this loss of air, I’m almost lost for words, we need to STOP & think, ‘cos in reality, no-body gains.
Sadly, we have very recently had two stabbings and a shooting of young people we support. One of the young people survived one of the stabbing incidents, but was forced to leave the local area for their own safety. On a more positive note this young person said that they survived because of the training they had received at Carney’s, they used their arms to protect their face and neck preventing a much more serious injury or death. We are saddened to say that the other two participants did not survive the stabbing/shooting they were involved in. Our thoughts are with their friends and family at this difficult time. This has led us to put out a public call to action stating that “If society is serious about tackling the violence, knife and gun crime, we need a true public health approach with long term policies & changes from the community, leaders, politicians, businesses, educators etc. No one change can fix the problems that lead to the sad incidents, but a start could be more investment in youth services; more community initiatives for at risk young people and those already in the criminal justice system; more (and better) family support; improved SEN assessment and support services; improved physical and mental health services; changes in the education system; employment opportunities that focus on social return, not just financial; removal of barriers for access to sports and youth activities; significant changes to institutions like the police force; improved political system, with long term policies that don’t revolve around the political cycle of just 5 years.
A big thanks to BikeStormz and Boohoo Man, who created the “Knives down bikes up” clothing range and have donated all profits (and lots of the clothing) to Carney’s, following another successful BikeStormz event in August.
We have won a one year contract to deliver the Youth Justice Service’s Turnaround project, to provide support for young people referred to us who have been (or at risk of being) engaged with the justice system, to reduce the risk of them reoffending.
