Inside this issue:

New Name—Still The Same!! Thank you for your support!

1

Bournemouth Trip

2

Trips Code of Conduct

2

Recent Trips & Workshops

3

Trip Information

3

Useful Information

4

Volunteers Needed!

4

Be Free Young Carers

(Formerly South & Vale Young

Carers)

Harwell Innovation Centre, 173 Curie Avenue, Harwell,

OXON,

OX11 0QG

Tel: 01235 838554

Carly’s mobile: 07826 930064

Chrissy’s mobile: 07825 990064

yc@befreeyc.org.uk

www.befreeyc.org.uk

Closed Mondays

A company limited by guarantee registered in

England and Wales

Reg. Charity Number 1042708

Company No. 02989722

NEW NAME - STILL THE SAME!!

Exciting news!! South & Vale Young Carers has a new name! We are now called Be Free YC. Don’t worry, our support to you won’t change in any way, in fact we have lots of exciting new things in the pipeline for you. We will still be providing our fun and exciting trips, activities and workshops, and we are still here to offer advice and to talk to you if you

are finding things difficult.

In December last year, some of our young carers and their families met with us in Did-cot Civic Hall to share their ideas about our name change and new logo. We were over-whelmed with their amazing suggestions and creativity and are very grateful for all of

their hard work and for giving up their time to help inspire us. It’s great to know that our new name and logo came directly from the young carers that we support.

The support that we provide to young carers is funded by the generous donations that we receive and we are extremely grateful to everybody that has supported our charity! Recent thanks goes to: Didcot Choral Society who very kindly donated £300! Abingdon Rotary who very kindly donated £1,000! Paula Pusey who very kindly donated £2,027! For Paula’s 40th birthday, rather than receiving presents, she asked that her family and friends donated to Be Free Young Carers instead. We are so grateful for her and her friends and family for their unbelievable

generosity. We hope she had a wonderful time celebrating her special day. High Sheriff, Sarah Taylor who very kindly donated £10,000! Hagbourne Parochial Church Council who very kindly donated £1,300! Abingdon Parochial Church Council who very kindly donated £500! Rotary of Abingdon Vesper are very kindly providing our 2 June trips — 2 wonderful days down the Kennet & Avon Canal in a barge. They have generously provided these trips for a number of years and they are always lots of fun and an amazing experience. Young carer, Sharmaine and all the staff and students at UTC in Didcot who kindly raised a fantastic £122.60. They organised a fun 'staff vs students' basketball match to raise money to support young carers in our community. This money will go towards paying for tickets for our Thorpe Park trip in August—we can't wait!! We are so proud of Sharmaine for all of her hard work and for supporting fellow young carers. We are so grateful for donations like this from the local community, without which we would not be able to keep providing support for young carers. We also have to say a big thank you to the local churches and parishes that have also supported us. If you have any fundraising ideas, please let us know as we really appreciate every single penny!

Page 2 Young Carers

Trip & Activities Code of Conduct We want you to have fun, relax and enjoy the trips, activities and workshops that you attend. Be Free YC is committed to providing a safe and caring environment for all the young carers that access our support and that is why it is extremely important that you follow our Trip

Golden Rules. Inside this newsletter you will find a Trips & Activities Code of Conduct which we would like you to please read, sign and return to us. The Code of Conduct is really

important as it outlines the expectations we have for all those that attend our trips. If everyone follows it, it ensures that everyone will have a great experience and a

fun time which is really, really important. Thank you!

BOURNEMOUTH TRIP—Thursday 10th August 2017

On Thursday 10th August, Be Free YC will be having our popular, annual day trip to the seaside for our young carers and their families. Prices are £10 per adult and £5 per child (aged 0-17 years). More information and a booking form can be found with this newsletter. We hope to see lots of you there to enjoy the

sun, sea and sand and to have lots of fun so please make sure you get your booking forms back to us as soon as possible so you don’t miss out!

RECENT TRIPS, WORKSHOPS & ACTIVITIES

TRIP INFORMATION

Trips & Activities Golden Rules

The trips we provide are an opportunity for you to relax and have fun away from your caring role and the young carers that attend really enjoy them. It is important that everyone follows the Trip Golden Rules so that trips are successful and a great day for everyone.

1. Always confirm your place - If you have a place on a trip, we will write to you to let you know. If not, you will be on the reserve list and you may be contacted at the last minute if there is a cancellation. If you are invited on a trip YOU MUST CONFIRM if you are attending. If you do not, we will assume you do not want to come and we will give your place to somebody else.

2. Always let us know if you can’t attend a trip that you have been invited on - Trips are very popular and book up quickly so we always have a reserve list of young carers wanting to come. If you don’t let us know you can no longer come, other young carers will miss out on coming which is a real shame!

3. Always be punctual - we can only wait a maximum of 5 minutes after the planned departure time of a trip. Any delay will shorten the trip for everybody, make us late for other pick ups and disrupt planned activities. It is really, really important to be on time please.

4. Always be respectful of staff, other young carers and members of the public - this makes the trip enjoyable for everyone involved. Rules are in place to keep you safe and must be followed at all times please.

5. Always be sensible when travelling - always wear your seatbelt to keep you safe. Please don’t leave litter on the minibus – no eating on the bus please.

6. Finally, and most importantly - ALWAYS HAVE LOTS OF FUN!!

The trips and workshops that Be Free Young Carers provide are completely free, however,

we are always very grateful for any contributions made as we have to fundraise to cover the cost of the activities we offer you.

Tesco Lay-by

TESCO

TRIP PICK UP/DROP OFF LOCATIONS Don’t forget... Our Didcot pick up location is now at the Civic Hall car park in Britwell Road (OX11 7JN). As Chrissy and Carly will meet you at the Civic Hall car park, if you need to call them on the day of a trip, please call them on their mobiles as they won’t be able to pick up messages left at the office. The pick up in Abingdon is still at the Tesco Supermarket lay-by (Marcham Road —Tesco side, opposite Pets at Home). Where possible, we will also do a pick up in Faringdon for people who struggle to get to Didcot or Abingdon. This pick up will be in the car park of The Faringdon Medical Centre on Volunteer Way (SN7 7YU). On the trip posters we will let you know which trips will be picking up in Faringdon as it won’t be possible every time due

to trip location.

Didcot Civic Hall

Faringdon Medical Centre

Car Park

USEFUL INFORMATION

Disclaimer: Be Free YC takes every care in producing this newsletter but cannot take responsibility for any errors that may have occurred. Any services mentioned are for information only and are not endorsed by us. CB