10 young people investing in their skills and talents

This October, we were delighted to be able to award talent bonds to 10 young people thanks in part to funding from the Speedo Mick Foundation. Each young person received £250 to invest in learning a skill, growing a talent or developing into a positive future.

The decisions about which applications should receive funding were made by a panel of young people. Each panel member has received talent bond funding previously – Keira, who was awarded £250 to create a vegetable and flower garden in her Foyer, and Conor, who used his £250 to create a spectacular dress for his Haus of Black label.

The 10 young people awarded funding are:

• A young person who wanted to purchase quality clothing to continue an outdoor skills course in a rural area.
• A young person passionate about business and design who wanted to design, print and sell his own T-shirts.
• A cycle mechanic in training who needed to purchase some bike parts to work on with a mentor.
• A college student with ambitions to study law at University and wanted to buy some textbooks to make a head start.
• A young parent who discovered a talent for making gift hampers and wants to turn this skills into a business.
• A young person who has started an events company and wanted to buy more sound equipment to expand the scope of his work.
• A young person who wanted to learn to play the piano and thought that by buying a keyboard for the Foyer, others could learn too.
• A netball player who wants to share her love of the sport with others by setting up a local team.
• A music writer and performer who wanted to pay for studio time to record his own music.
• An aspiring designer in need of sewing equipment to further her skills and develop her own line of lingerie.

Young people awarded funding came from a total of eight services: Eden Rural Foyer, Enfield, Bowering Court, Crewe, Newhaven, Milton Keynes YMCA, Bridge Foyer and Coops Foyer.

Watch this space for interviews with the young people who received funding to find out more about them, their passions and how they intend to use the money to grow their talents.