It’s been a busy summer at Streetlife, and we wanted to shine a light on some of the incredible updates that have been going on behind the scenes.

Fundraising and Donations

We’re delighted to share that the Blackpool Music Festival raised over £3000 for Streetlife through their ongoing fundraising and awareness work around the Rebellion Festival at the Winter Gardens.

The Rebellion Festival is the UK’s largest independently run punk festival, featuring around 300 live acts spread across six or more stages. It includes a literary festival, art exhibitions and much more. We are really grateful for their incredible support of Streetlife.

We want to say a big thank you to the Rebellion Festival organisers, the Winter Gardens team, Stephen Pierre and the team at The Galleon, and all the amazing volunteers who helped make the fundraising possible.

We’d also like to thank Friends of Streetlife for holding a Bingo night in August at the Layton Institute in Blackpool. They donated all proceeds to Streetlife, helping us to support vulnerable young people in the area.

Young People’s Bereavement Group

We recently introduced a Bereavement Group for our young people, which started on 25th August and is run by Nathan Parker and Aunty Social. It gives our young people the opportunity to meet, connect, and receive support around bereavement and loss.

We recognise the importance of ensuring our young people feel safe and comfortable discussing their emotions so they can get the support they need.

Youth Advisory Group

Our Youth Advisory Group meets every Friday morning to discuss matters which are important to our young people. This meeting allows them to work towards a shared goal, combining creativity and teamwork. In the past, this group has allowed our young people to win awards, such as the Blackpool in Bloom Award.

This summer, our young people have been actively involved in reviewing Streetlife’s safeguarding policy as part of their Youth Advisory meetings. This has enabled them to share their views on what they think should be included in the policy and the positive changes they think these will bring.

The Youth Advisory Group also took part in a Financial Awareness Day. This involved discussions around the cost of living, money management and the financial challenges young people can face.

We think it’s important that our young people can have these discussions in a safe environment, and we regularly hold sessions designed to increase financial awareness and confidence.

Staff Well-being

At Streetlife, we are always searching for more ways to promote positive well-being for our young people and also our staff. Recently, Steve has been running weekly well-being sessions for staff, including a 15-minute guided meditation. These sessions allow staff to take some time out, switch off and focus on their well-being.

As we said, it’s been a busy summer at Streetlife, and we’re proud to be making a difference in the lives of so many young people in Blackpool through our services at The Night Shelter and The Base.