The rest of the committee comprises members of the parish, headmasters, councillors, local business representatives, and club representatives. For further information on the management committee or the organisation, contact the CYI office on 01252 820246 or e-mail cyi@cyi.org.uk .

The Bourne Children and Youth Initiative is sponsored by the St Thomas-on-the-Bourne, St Martins, and Brambleton and supported by the Surrey Youth Service, Waverley Borough Council and Farnham Town Council

The Bourne Children and Youth Initiative Management Committee is a sub-committee of the Parish Church Council of St. Thomas-on-the-Bourne, St. Martins, and Brambleton.

The Bourne Children and Youth Initiative is affiliated to 'Surrey Association of Youth Clubs & Surrey PHAB'
(Charity Reg. No. 803697)

Website

This website has been developed under the management and coordination of CYI Management Committee member Mike Ellis. Mike is an IT Consultant and spent 5 years leading the Prime Time Youth Club before embarking on this project. His partner on this project has been Mark Thurston, Farnham college 6th form student, who used this project as part of his AVCE Computing course. The CYI is greatly indebted to Mark, and we wish him well with his College project and his future studies. The clear objectives of this website are:

	to publish the good work of the CYI on the web and provide communication and links with other youth organisations in the area.
	to provide up to date information on all of the clubs for helpers, members and prospective members.
	to provide a vehicle for young people to learn about web design and use of the internet.
	to encourage the community to get involved in the website, through volunteering and contributions to fund raising activities.

If anyone would like to get involved with the website, please contact Mike. We aim to develop the site further over the coming months by adding more information, incorporating new technologies, and above all, getting more involvement from the young people of the organisation.

CYI Short History

First Youth Worker
Second Youth Worker
Third Youth Worker
Fourth Youth Worker

For two or three years prior to 1995 the Bourne Parish had been investigating the needs of various groups in the community in order to assess what contribution the Church could make.  After much consultation with people in the area and the statutory services it was decided that we should start a youth support service which would be a joint venture between the Church and the community. This was not to be an evangelical project but rather service to the community.  

The Bourne Parish agreed to take a lead role and set up the Bourne Children and Youth Initiative. The aim was twofold,  firstly to provide recreational youth clubs which could both promote understanding of  young people by involving volunteers in running activities for them  and secondly to provide a service for the more needy over fourteen year olds who had, we were aware, problems with homelessness, drugs, alcohol and a number of other difficulties. In order to accomplish these aims we realised we would have to appoint a  youth worker.  

First youth worker

We began fund-raising in 1995. The Bourne Parish pump primed the project with of £30,000 raised by a special appeal.  

In 1996 we appointed our first youth worker who had experience, but who had not received a recognised training . He remained with us for six months or so.  

He  began by setting up the  recreational clubs with volunteers. Let’s Go, (8-11)  already existed at St Martins, The Buzz (8-11) started at Brambleton and Prime Time for 11 to 14 year olds in the Bourne Hall. He also started  a football club meeting weekly on the Bourne Green. Without professional training the youth worker was unable to cope with the clubs,  volunteer training and liaison. He resigned and we rethought our personnel specification and job description. The clubs continued to run and to develop, with 25 volunteers and about 100 young people attending.

Second youth worker

In 1997 we appointed our first fully trained youth worker. He  developed the project in several ways-

a) He supported the volunteers working in the recreational clubs.

b) He liaised very effectively with other local youth workers from the statutory and voluntary sectors, as well as others working with young people from schools, police, probation, social services and the other Farnham churches.          

c) He  set up a drop-in centre and started developing a youth information service which local young people, over 14, say they need. This project is particularly targeted on the more disadvantaged.  He  trained  adult volunteers to work with the qualified youth workers.  Surrey Youth Service strongly supports the project and they provided some additional qualified youth worker support.

d) He started a youth cricket club in partnership with the local adult Bourne Cricket Club.

Our first full time youth worker left in February 1999 to take a post which was promotion for him nearer his home in London. We reviewed the situation and decided to appoint a part time qualified youth worker and a two sessional workers to provide closer support to the recreational clubs. These started work in April 1999.  

Third Youth Worker

The qualified youth worker  managed the sessional workers and took responsibility for the over 14 work himself. He spent the first four months of his appointment reviewing the service. He decided to split Prime Time in two to allow for the development of a fuller youth work curriculum with the older young people. The new club Primetime Plus opened on Wednesdays at St Martins Hall. Unfortunately this club failed to get the whole hearted support of the young people and lasted only one year.

He equipped and opened the Youth Information and Counselling Shop weekday afternoons to provide advice on homelessness, health matters, drugs and personal difficulties. Waverley Borough Council gave us a matched funding grant of £9000 for set up costs. the Hedgehogs, Farnham Town Council, Farnham Institute and Surrey Youth Service also contributed.

We have a Service Level Agreement with Surrey Youth Service who have given us a grant of £11,500 towards the salary of the Youth Worker.  This has just been renewed for years 2000 to 2003. Surrey Youth Service added a further £5,000 to allow us to recruit a full time worker. We also received a grant from the Farnham Christian Community Trust. This will cover about a half of our annual costs, A project to train youth volunteers will begin in partnership with Weydon School when the Youth Information Service is up and running. We are also committed to starting Youth Action Teams which will help young members of our recreational clubs to take ownership and help run their clubs.

We now had 350 young people attending the seven clubs and about 35 volunteers helping to run them on a regular basis. 60% of our volunteers are from the community and 40% from the Church.

We have recently appointed an administrator (twelve hours weekly)  to help with supporting the youth worker and the clubs and to manage the accounts. We have rented a small local shop to act as base for the Youth Information Service as well as an office, a training base and a place to hold meetings. This is currently sponsored by the Parish.

Ian Stonehouse left us in the Spring of 2001.

YO2 our film made by Farnham young people about the experiences of young people at the Millennium was launched in July 2001.

Our Fourth Youth Worker, Wesley Bell was appointed in September 2001. Currently we are planning to-         

Develop the use of the Information Shop

As well as continuing to support existing clubs and projects.

March 02 Wesley has opened the Groove after Buzz club at Brambleton Hall. The nucleus of young people starting this club have formed a youth Action Team to run it and plan activities.