Ceredigion Youth Service were fortunate recently to accept an opportunity generously provided by West Wales Holiday Cottages to support young people with a cash bursary.

The purpose of the bursary was to provide a young people aged 11-25 with the opportunity to apply for £500, in order to help them with their future aspirations. A total of 22 applications were received, ranging from social enterprises to project ideas, community events and training requests. The applications were then forwarded to Ceredigion Youth Forum, which is a panel of young people from all over Ceredigion, who access Ceredigion Youth Service provision. The Youth Forum members met during February half term and spent several hours reading through and discussing each application. By utilising a scoring matrix, the Youth Forum members decided to award the bursary to two successful candidates, for their innovative ideas and the potential impact on their lives and the lives other young people in Ceredigion.

Paul Jones (£350). Paul wanted to utilise the grant to further his training to provide first aid courses for children and young people and also to help purchase equipment for his new Badger Sett and Cadet Group in Lampeter.

Corey-Jay Wells (£150). Corey, wanted to utilise the bursary to help launch his own clothing brand and to further promote Downhill Mountain Biking through coaching other children and young people.

Principal Youth Officer Gethin Jones said, “We are very grateful and appreciative to West Wales Holiday Cottages for approaching us with this opportunity for young people in Ceredigion. Like ourselves, West Wales Holiday Cottages recognise that many young people living in Ceredigion have limited opportunities to access training, support and social activities due to socio-economic issues. It was brilliant to see the quality and quantity of applications that arrived, which shows that there are young people in Ceredigion who are motivated, inspired and confident to go for opportunities like this. This opportunity was also a very empowering experience for our Youth Forum members who felt proud and privileged to decide on the successful candidates. It was definitely a very tough decision for them to make, but they have decided as a group who they felt deserved it”.

Both Paul and Corey will now be invited to attend Ceredigion Youth Service’s Awards Evening at Theatr Felinfach on Tuesday 17th April 4pm – 7pm, where they will be presented with their bursaries by West Wales Holiday Cottages along with all the other young people who will be receiving various awards.

18/02/2018