Young people from Lancaster and Morecambe have taken part in a demanding challenge in the Scottish Highlands run by a local charity.
A team from Lancashire Youth Challenge (LYC), which offers life-changing opportunities to young people, has recently returned from its annual expedition canoeing the Great Glen Way in Scotland.
The Great Glen Way is a 60-mile series of canals and lochs including Loch Ness, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy which cut through the spectacular Highlands.
As well as facing this physically demanding challenge, after a tiring day, the young people, including two Ukrainian resettled refugees, were given creative challenges from writing to photography and film to document their individual journeys.
Prior to the trip, the young people had completed a series of team building tasks and had fitness sessions at BayFit but when they arrived in Scotland, it was their first time in canoes.
They were accompanied by two LYC staff and six volunteers and travelled to Scotland in a minibus loaned from West End Primary School in Morecambe where LYC have worked in the past.
The theme of the expedition was ‘going with the flow’ where the teenagers were encouraged to reflect on their relationship to nature and water and how they could use these new experiences to deal with life’s adversities which many of them have faced.
“For some of the young people, this six-day expedition was the longest period they had been away from home so the challenge helped them to deal with their anxieties and build their resilience and determination,” said Guy Christiansen, chief executive of LYC.
“The challenge helps our young people to work towards a goal and succeed and for some of them, it’s the first time they’ve had success in life so that boost to their self-confidence and sense of achievement is massive.”
The challenge was funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, The Francis Scott Trust, Stoneswood Homes and Swift Electrical Solutions.
As a charity, LYC depends on grant funding and donations to survive and will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year.
LYC enables young people to build confidence and resilience via an exciting year-round programme of active movement and emotional wellbeing programmes, creative arts activities, nature-based projects and outdoor expeditions.
Its work was recognised in 2021 when LYC received the prestigious Queen's Award for voluntary service and it is a finalist in the 2024 Children and Young People Now Youth Work Awards.
Among its most recent success stories included in LYC's latest annual Impact Report is 15-year-old Sam, who said: "Coming to LYC helped to build my confidence. I see now I can talk to people a bit easier. I can start a conversation.
"I think I found my old self - my voice has come back from when I was at primary school, the loudness has come back again."
LYC has also made a big difference to the life of young carer, Grace, who said: "It's definitely given me a reason to get up and get out of bed and made me happier.
"Before LYC, I would be in my house all day...looking after my mother or not having anything to do, so it gets me out of the house and lets me talk to people my age."
Unlike larger organisations with significant overhead costs, LYC prides itself on using 95p of every £1 donated to help young people from across Lancashire.
Ways of supporting the charity include monthly donations, becoming a patron or supporting its easyfundraising page.
For more information on LYC and how to support it, visit www.lancashireyouthchallenge.co.uk
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