Hello,
This month I would like to focus on the work of the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes Young People’s Trust (YPT).
A Potted History
The YPT was set up over two decades ago to fund a Church of England Youth Worker in the Uttoxeter Area. Money came from the diocese, local churches and individuals. Once the youth worker post finished, the YPT was left with a chunk of money which was used to fund youth work (led by Rev. Sue Willetts), Open The Book (storytelling in schools), grants for local church projects (such as Big Screen in Tean) and help support training. For the past four years, the primary focus of the YPT has been on paying 25% of the costs of a local Schools Worker.
Schools Worker
Jordan Lambert became a local Schools Worker about eight years ago. Originally, the post was funded by the Methodist, United Reform and Renew churches in Uttoxeter. The YPT then offered its financial resources. This has meant an outlay of approximately £10,000 per year.
Jordan goes into 21 local First, Primary and Middle schools in the Uttoxeter area and beyond. This Spring Term he ran 220 sessions across those schools, including assemblies, worship team sessions and chaplaincy. He also runs specific programmes such as Think Tank, which encourages children to engage in ethical and faith issues, asking them to think for themselves about how these questions impact them and the world in which they live.
Jordan also sits on four school governing bodies, providing a consistent Christian input.
The big project this Spring was the Cinema Project, where Jordan arranged for over 1000 local schoolchildren to see the film, ‘King of Kings’ at the Uttoxeter Cinebowl.
Funding
Over the last four years the outgoings from the YPT have far outstripped the income. Some local churches and individuals have maintained a regular total contribution of £800 to the YPT and, after a fundraising push last year, that amount has risen to £2000. With a current bank balance of £15000, you can see that we need more money to continue funding the Schools Worker post, training, the new CofE Brick Church Project and – if affordable – other work aimed at our young people. Small (or large !!), regular donations help us to maintain our commitments and budget for the future. I can guarantee that every single penny donated goes towards the work.
The Big Why?
The Schools Worker post that the YPT part-funds does work that we do not have the money, staff or volunteers to do ourselves. For a relatively small outlay, Jordan reaches over a thousand children that we do not have in our congregations. He opens up possibilities of faith which, most importantly,
helps to equip them for decisions they make now or later in life.
If you’d like to contribute to the Uttoxeter Area of Parishes Young People’s Trust, please contact our Benefice Administrator on 01889 562915 or uttoxeterareaparish@outlook.com
If you’d like to talk about what the YPT does, please contact one of the Trustees, who are myself (joecant214@gmail.com, 07592 206706), Rev. Jules Walker, Linda Beech, Andy White, Toby Collins and Nicola Bagworth.
Peace and prayers, Rev. Joe Cant, Team Vicar, Uttoxeter Area of Parishes.