Our Latest Insights
Here you can read the latest on news, events, stories, and blog posts.
Youth Social Action / Aspirations and Future Planning / February 10th, 2025
Global Opportunities for Young People to Extend your Life Experiences
There are many opportunities to extend your life experiences outside of education or work, including travelling or working abroad. These opportunities are perfect for young people to learn new skills, meet new people and gain once in a lifetime experiences. For people who leave school and are unsure about what they want to do next, these experiences can be useful to figure out what you are interested in and gain volunteer or work experience which is a wonderful asset to your CV.
Consett Heritage Project / February 13th, 2025
Kieron Kelly - Consett Heritage Podcast
Kieron Kelly, a fourth-generation resident of Consett, reflects on how life and opportunities in the town have changed since the closure of the steelworks. He also highlights the various volunteering and sporting opportunities available to children and young people in the area.
Consett Heritage Project / February 7th, 2025
Playing in the Red Dust - Moorside Primary School
This poem was created by Corben, Roxi, Lacey, Oscar, Leandra, and Millie from Moorside Primary School. It reflects their take on the red dust that once covered Consett — the cloud of iron oxide emitted during the Steelworks’ production because of this red clouds of dust would hang over the town, settling on cars and clothes hung out to dry, a sight captured in many photos of Consett from that time.
Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / February 3rd, 2025
Benfieldside Community Garden - January 2025 Update
Here's a short update of where we are up to with out plans for Benfieldside Community Garden. We are working through the winter, to get as much as we can in place so the community can enjoy the space over the summer months. A massive thank you to our volunteers, we couldn't do it without you!
Consett Heritage Project / February 3rd, 2025
Helene Wilson - Consett Heritage Podcast
Helene tells us all about how much she enjoys living in Consett and how much being part of the Consett community means to her. She considers the influences of the past, and how Consett has moved forward and is no longer just about the steelworks. Please take a listen.
Consett Heritage Project / February 3rd, 2025
Designing a Steel Statue for Consett
On Tuesday 28th January, we hosted a fundraiser and design session to generate some ideas about what the community want the Ray Lonsdale statue to look like. We were very lucky to have renowned artist Ray Lonsdale with us, who gave a talk about his artistic journey and past designs, and answered all of our questions about his statues and how we should go about creating our own for Consett.
Youth Social Action / Aspirations and Future Planning / January 30th, 2025
Careers Event at North Durham Academy, Stanley.
On Thursday 23rd January 2025, we hosted a Careers Event at North Durham Academy, sponsored by Karbon Homes, which was a huge success! We had 30 visitors kindly give up their time to speak to the students about their careers, job roles, companies and their journeys to get to their current positions. The students then had the opportunity to ask questions to the visitors to find out more about their choices at 16, what qualifications are required for their job and any challenges or barriers they have faced in their career.
Consett Heritage Project / January 28th, 2025
Voices of Consett - Kris Kennedy
Kris Kennedy, has lived and worked in Consett all of his life, living in Constance Street and currently working at Consett Golf Club. As part of our Consett Heritage project, read his Consett Heritage story here.
Aspirations and Future Planning / January 27th, 2025
A Guide of the Grants and Funds Available for Young People in Education
Many young people in the north east may be eligible for grants and funds to support them through their education, from places such as Point North, Nat West or Atom Bank. There is a variety of support available for a range of ages and students at different stages of their educational journey, so check out this guide to see if anything is suitable for you!
Aspirations and Future Planning / January 15th, 2025
Supporting our Young People into University - Our Guide
One key talking point when visiting Newcastle University on our recent trips, was discussing the range of routes and support available to students from varying backgrounds, to ensure that they can still access the opportunities that more privileged students can access. This ranges from reduced grade offers, to financial support whilst at university, to a support network of similar students before they begin university; we have collated this helpful guide of some of these access schemes available in the North East.
Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / January 13th, 2025
RHS School Gardening Awards Levels 1 & 2
We are proud to share that we have achieved both Level 1 and Level 2 of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening Awards for our work renovating Benfieldside Community Garden! We have received a variety of seeds to plant in the garden, a growing calendar and certificates. Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers who help to make this happen! Next step- Level 3!
Youth Social Action / Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / January 8th, 2025
NE Charity Awards 2025, Maya Patterson
One of our fabulous volunteers, Maya Patterson achieved the Highly Commended Award at the NE Charity Awards in September 2025, for her voluntary work with Building Self-Belief CIO. She was recognised as a Young Charity Champion of the year for her major contribution to Building Self-Belief, in particular for her support with the youth clubs and at Benfieldside Community Garden. Well done Maya, this is very well deserved!
Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / Aspirations and Future Planning / January 8th, 2025
The Teenage Girls Mental Wellbeing and Aspirations Programme with Wellfield School
Recently, we completed this programme with a group of year 9 girls from Wellfield School. Some topics that we covered across the sessions included unhelpful thinking, friendships, self-esteem and body image. To culminate the end of the programme, we took the students on a trip to visit Newcastle University, an escape room and a restaurant.
Aspirations and Future Planning / January 6th, 2025
Business Roundtable Event - Time to put the North East on the Business Map
As a long-standing member of Do Business Network (DBN), I was delighted to be asked to attend the business roundtable discussion with Liz Twist MP for Blaydon and Consett, and Gareth Thomas MP, Minister in the Department for Business and Trade on Monday 9th December at Derwentside College.
Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / December 18th, 2024
The Meadow Well Teenage Wellbeing Programme With Norham High School
The Meadow Well Teenage Wellbeing Programme, in partnership with Norham High School, aimed to enhance the mental health, self-esteem, and aspirations of teenagers living on the Meadow Well Estate in North Shields. The programme focused on improving community engagement and exploring long-term potential, with an emphasis on employability skills and higher education, particularly in arts and creative industries.
Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / Youth Social Action / Aspirations and Future Planning / December 10th, 2024
The Importance of Vocational Visits to Aid Employability in Young People
At Building Self-Belief, one of the many programmes is the ‘Bridging the Gap’ Youth Employability Programme. Recently, this programme was conducted with year 10 boys from Boldon School. The first few workshops centred around improving wellbeing, and then the boys prepared for their vocational visit by working on goal setting, CV making and considering what makes a good employee.