Our Community Impact Fund makes a difference to young people in Didcot

Last year we awarded TRAIN, a charity providing support and opportunities for children and young people in Didcot and Wallingford, a grant of £1000 to help establish a new youth club in West Didcot.

The donation was made through our Community Impact Fund, an initiative designed to support voluntary and community groups across our localities. The fund offers grants of up to £1,000 to projects that benefit our customers and the local communities they live in.

The grant funding is supporting venue hire, staffing costs and materials for activities at the youth club which meets on Tuesday evenings at GWP Southern Community Centre.

The scheme has been running since last September and TRAIN CEO Ben Drabble has now provided an update. Ben said: “It has got off to a great start, and we’re building a consistent group who are really benefitting from the chance to participate in some positive diversionary activities.

“One of the positive outcomes is that several of the young people have agreed to join our participation pathway, where we meet with them more regularly and engage them in social action projects.

“Thank you again for funding the new youth club in western Didcot this year.”

Shortly before Christmas a festive meal was laid on for attendees at the youth club which was hailed a success by the TRAIN team.

In 2023/24 TRAIN reached 529 young people in Wallingford and Didcot, here are just some of their achievements:

• They’ve helped 305 young people improve their mental health
• They’ve delivered 114 one-to-one mentoring sessions

• They’ve supported 165 young people to reduce their likelihood of engaging in risk-taking behaviours.

You can read more about TRAIN’s work in their latest annual report

Find out more about our Community Impact Fund here.