Young people from across Barnsley took centre stage on 27 February 2026 at Barnsley Civic for the Great Childhoods Ambition event. Funded by Barnsley Council’s Great Childhoods Ambition programme and delivered by Barnsley CVS, ‘Ambition Arena: Your Pitch, Your Summer’ is giving young people the chance to create the summer they want to see.
The evening brought together young people, community organisations and local leaders for a dynamic “Dragons’ Den”-style showcase, where young people pitched their ideas for summer projects aimed at improving their communities. Huge congratulations to all the winners.
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🌟 A Celebration of Youth Voice and Leadership
The atmosphere inside Ambition Arena was filled with energy and anticipation as young people presented their ideas to a panel of local “Dragons”. Their pitches demonstrated not only creativity and ambition, but also the confidence and leadership that youth work across Barnsley continues to nurture.
For YMCA Barnsley, the event was a proud moment — a chance to see young people step into roles of influence, responsibility and representation.
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👏 YMCA Barnsley Young People Leading the Way
Two young leaders from YMCA Barnsley played standout roles in the evening:
• Raf, who was part of the Dragons’ panel, offering thoughtful insight and lived experience to help shape decisions. Raf’s presence on the panel highlighted the importance of young people being part of decision making spaces, not just presenting to them.
“It was an amazing experience and I loved getting to know the Dragons and seeing all the Young People’s pitches. Congrats to everyone — you should be incredibly proud.”
• Prince, who supported the event as part of the delivery team, representing youth leadership with enthusiasm and professionalism.
“Watching the pitches, getting to volunteer and talk to everyone was a great experience, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The confidence in everyone was amazing.”
Their contributions reflected the strength of youth leadership and youth voice at YMCA Barnsley and the impact of creating opportunities where young people can lead, influence and shape their communities.
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💬 Why This Event Matters for Young People and Our Community
This event reflects YMCA Barnsley’s ongoing commitment to creating spaces where young people are heard, supported, and empowered. It shows what youth work looks like when young people are placed at the centre of planning, decision making, and community action. Through the event, we saw:
• Youth voice in action — young people shaping priorities, activities, and ideas that reflect their lived experience.
• Co production at its best — youth workers and young people working side by side as equal partners, building trust and shared ownership.
• Leadership development — real opportunities for young people to lead, influence, and take responsibility in ways that build confidence and capability.
• Community impact — youth led projects and ideas that will make a meaningful difference in Barnsley over the summer
For YMCA Barnsley, it was a powerful reminder of what youth work achieves every day: building confidence, creating opportunities and helping young people realise their potential.

See also BMBC’s & Barnsley CVS news
Ambition Arena winners announced, with young people awarded funding to create the events they want to see this summer

YMCA Barnsley and Chilypep are delighted to announce that they will receive funding for building renovations as part of Barnsley’s successful bid to the Government’s Levelling-Up Fund.

The Barnsley Futures bid has been awarded £10.2m, which will work towards helping transform young people’s cultural and wellbeing facilities in Barnsley.

Andrea Battye, Youth Work Manager at YMCA Barnsley, said, “The planned redevelopment of YMCA’s building in the heart of Barnsley will enable YMCA and Chilypep to continue to provide a safe, welcoming and inclusive space for children and young people locally. It will go a long way to securing the future of the Young People’s Wellbeing Hub ‘H.O.M.E.’ based at YMCA Barnsley.

“The renovations will help to modernise our facilities, which will reduce our environmental impact and operating costs and contribute to our long-term viability as important providers of essential youth-led services for young people in Barnsley.”

H.O.M.E. provides an open-access space for young people to find support before they are in crisis and offers innovative, creative, therapeutic activities that support their mental health. Working alongside YMCA and other partners, H.O.M.E. is a service that offers holistic wrap-around support.

Lesley Pollard, CEO of Chilypep, said, “The success of Barnsley’s Futures bid is crucial to the vision of long-term emotional wellbeing for our young people. YMCA has provided vital open access youth work for over 100 years, and our partnership with YMCA Barnsley in developing H.O.M.E. is part of a national drive to provide early support hubs for young people.”

The £10.2m investment will also include the creation of an activity park in the town centre that will be co-produced by young people, support for Barnsley Youth Choir and the creation of the new Northern Academy for Vocal Excellence (NAVE), and a contribution to the major project to refurbish The Civic Cultural Centre.

YMCA is grateful to Barnsley Council for the opportunity to be a key partner in this bid. We look forward to working with all involved to bring these projects to life, increasing chances and improving outcomes for children and young people in Barnsley.

BMBC Press Release Levelling Up

Please find below information about the free activities YMCA Barnsley are delivering in the North Area over the summer holidays. More information can be found on our YMCA Barnsley Facebook Page.

Booking is required for all activities. If you book a place but can no longer attend, please get in touch with us so that we can offer the place to someone else. To book please either message via Facebook or email us [email protected].

A Message From The Chair

I am pleased to introduce the annual report of YMCA Barnsley. In what has been a difficult year for everyone, we have tried to ensure that our work with young people has continued in some form to ensure they are supported during this difficult period. We have all learned new skills, be it for social media, zoom and teams and work outside of our buildings; our report this year shines a light on our work within the local community.

As ever our team of dedicated staff have continued to go above and beyond for us: across all our projects with support from our core admin team. Our staff and volunteers bring so much to the projects they are involved with, and to the wider work of the YMCA.

The Unity Project whose aim is to build emotional resilience and wellbeing in young people age 8–14 years will be so vital in moving forward and similarly our work within other projects including detached work in the Central and North Areas, Y Stay In for 13- 19’s, Young Volunteers, Short Breaks and Little Y will be key in supporting our young people as we re-open our centre based youth work.

We are now starting to emerge from the latest lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. For many this will have been another difficult period but hopefully it has also given the opportunity to reflect on what has passed and is a time to look forward to building on our work from 2019/20 taking positives from the last year where we can. However we emerge, our goal remains to support our young people to reach their full potential.

Sue Williams.
Chair.

A Message From The Chair

I am delighted to welcome you to the annual report of YMCA Barnsley. A showcase of our work within the local community.

Our team of dedicated, hardworking staff have continued to go above and beyond their remit culminating in the recommissioning of work within the central area to “Build Emotional Resilience and Wellbeing in Young People age 8–14 years”. This project runs alongside the other children’s and youth work programmes, all of which enable young people to reach their true potential. There has been a wide range of activities offered, to suit all, building confidence and enabling young people to develop skills to take through life. This has been particularly illustrated within Y Stay In, the 13-19 year-old youth group. Having approached the Board to ask if they could repurpose the IT suite to use as a safe space, they embarked on fund raising to raise money to refurbish the room. This shows the confidence they have gained to take control of their space and to engage with the Trustees in a positive manner. This can only bode well for the future of our organisation. The success of the projects has continued to grow as participation levels increase and relationships with third parties continue to expand. Likewise, our Young Volunteers continue their excellent role and have participated in YMCA 175 and Greenbelt where once again there has been fabulous feedback.

Staff and volunteers have worked hard to support the vulnerable within our community and through fund raising events have purchased equipment to support the homeless so that they have clean dry clothes. The Trustees of the organisation have continued to move forward in reviewing and implementing the Strategic Plan. This has been financially challenging at times, especially in securing funds to meet core costs. As Trustees, we work positively to ensure that young people for years to come have the resources and hence opportunities to make a positive contribution not only to their own lives but also to their communities.

As I write this the country is in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These unprecedented times have brought their own challenges especially to our role and relationship with the children, young people and their families. For many this will have been a time of reflection but also a time to look forward. Whatever “new” normal lies ahead we look forward to re-opening our doors to offer support in whatever shape that may take. – Julie Enoch.

We are incredibly grateful to the team of youth workers from YMCA Barnsley who played an invaluable role in the delivery of the youth programme at the Christian Arts Festival – ‘Greenbelt’

Comprising of a team of employees and volunteers and expertly overseen by Christie MacFarlane, YMCA Barnsley led a team from 9 different YMCA’s across the UK to facilitate a drop in café, workshops and seminar programme.

Ensuring that young people in attendance at Greenbelt had an adult free space to call their own within the festival and space within which they could create their own Greenbelt, YMCA Barnsley exceeded the aspirations of the festival directors.

“We wanted to acknowledge a huge debt for all you’ve done to transform the way we deliver our youth programme and support young people at the festival over the last few years. On reflection, it’s been nothing short of a transformation! A miracle of sorts”.  – Paul Northup | Creative Director, GREENBELT

Young people from Worsborough had the opportunity to work with a final year music and technology student to write, record and produce their own music video. The young people explored the musical styles they liked and listened to, the different roles involved in creating music they were interested in and finally themes that they would like to write lyrics about. Themes discussed included the pressures of being a young person, SATS, bullying and fear of trying new things because they might fail at it.

“I am more confident in myself, I believe I can do whatever I put my mind to. I have learnt that being unique and being myself makes everyone a lot happier… The project has made me realise that I am special and I can do it.”

The young people were very engaged and excited about the project and its next steps. They all had particular aspects of creating music that they were interested in, some shared they could play an instrument and they also discussed areas they felt they lacked confidence in. One girl expressed that she loved to sing but was afraid of getting it wrong or failing so wouldn’t sing in front of others. Throughout the project she was able to overcome this fear and supported by others in the group was able to sing vocals on the track.

They experienced workshops on writing lyrics, creating /recording the music using instruments, creating the music using technology and recording the lyrics /vocals.

Throughout the process the young people were engaged and motivated by the project idea, which contributed to building the emotional resilience of those involved, challenging them to develop their skills, building on their interests and aspirations and expressing themselves in a new and exciting way.

A Message From The Chair

Welcome to our annual report for 2018-2019, giving an insight in to the work and focus of YMCA Barnsley.

2018 saw significant changes within our Association. The sale of the Eldon Street premises released much needed funds to maintain the Blucher Street site. Major work on the roof has now been completed and the building is once again watertight. To be effective in moving forward the upstairs of the premises was closed; as Trustees we felt that we could no longer be everything to everybody. These changes marked the start of the implementation of the strategic plan which is aligned to our vision of building a sustainable community to facilitate supporting children and young people to enable them to belong, contribute and thrive, underpinned by the Christian ethos. To create sustainability, we are currently exploring new avenues of income generation, so we are financially viable.

We are dedicated to empowering young people to reach their true potential. The case studies shown illustrate how young people can and have taken positive steps to change their lives. The projects delivered have been possible due to a team of hardworking and dedicated staff all of whom are valued assets of our Association. Our excellent reputation extends beyond the Borough as the Greenbelt report illustrates.

This annual report is just a brief glimpse into YMCA Barnsley. If you have been inspired by what you have read and would like to get involved, then do contact us – we would love to hear from you. – Julie Enoch