My role as a Youth and Community Development Worker keeps me busy. Richmondshire is a rural area and the clubs and projects I support are spread far and wide from the top of Hawes to the Market towns of Leyburn and Richmond and the largest army base, Catterick Garrison.
All the voluntary clubs are very different; one I have worked closely with this year is RAMP (Richmondshire Area Motorcycle Project). The group went through a transition with a lot of changes and at one point almost closed down.
Working closely with the volunteers, we have managed to turn things around and have supported them to develop a 4-week programme that works with young people to educate them about motorcycles. This includes how to maintain the bikes, road safety and how to ride a motorbike. The course ends with a day off-road biking and a presentation.
Many of the young people who attend the course come back as young volunteers and are supported to complete a Young Leaders Award. It is really rewarding to see this transition in young people, from the beginning of their journey where they may be lacking a bit of confidence at times, through to holding a position of responsibility and helping other young people with their shared passion.
RAMP runs on Saturdays from March – October. If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch with the team on [email protected].