Broxtowe Borough Council’s grant of £19,875 has allowed Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) to help refurbish Nottingham Casuals Rugby Club in Beeston after the club house suffered flood damage earlier this year.
VIY provides training opportunities to young people who are not in employment, education or training, and this project has allowed 16 young people to gain a construction related qualification. The grant was made possible through UK Shared Prosperity Funding (UKSPF) from the UK Government.
The young people, along with volunteers with from the club renovated and re-decorated the whole club-house, including bar area, changing rooms and toilets, moving water-sensitive items into storage upstairs and lining external storage units. As well as improving the facilities for new and existing club members and enabling the club to accommodate more women members, the club house is now available for event bookings.
VIY match-funded the Broxtowe grant with in-kind contributions from their trade partners Travis Perkins and Dulux, as well as funding from Sport England and Continental Tyres in partnership with Kwik Fit, which also included gifted merchandise as part of their sponsorship of England Rugby as well as funding from Sport England.
At the heart of the VIY’s delivery model, the refurbishment works were undertaken by a team of 19 young volunteers aged 14 and over, economically inactive/unemployed and disengaged or excluded from mainstream education and training. They learned and applied vocational trade skills on the job whilst being mentored by and working alongside, professional tradespeople (a mix of local volunteer mentors and VIY Lead Mentors). 16 of the young volunteers gained an Entry Level 3 City and Guilds trade skills accreditations. All the young volunteers received support in progressing to employment and further/higher-level training opportunities, including apprenticeships, after completing the project.
Steve Sarno from Nottingham Casuals said: “The club has greatly benefited from the work undertaken by the team. We now have a repainted clubhouse, a totally remodelled bar, which will no doubt be enjoyed by the membership. So many thanks to all concerned.”
“The amount of time and effort put in by VIY and the volunteers has been phenomenal. It’s been a great pleasure seeing the Rugby community come together to regenerate the inside space of Nottingham Casuals RFC. I’m sure it will be enjoyed for many years to come. Thank you all for your hard work”.
VIY are a Community Interest Company that works with young people who are disengaged from mainstream education provision or currently unemployed as well as local community volunteers.
More information about Volunteer It Yourself is available at: volunteerityourself.org/