Issue 37 - 7th August 2013 Putting the customer first in

Issue 37 - 7th August 2013
Welcome to Council Bulletin 37 covering July 2013. Highlights for the month included a report on the YHA AGM
in Manchester, the formal reopening of YHA Ambleside by mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington, and a preview of
the YHA Road Trip taking place early in August.
This newsletter’s themes
YHA’s vision is to reach out and enhance the lives of all young people and to achieve this vision over the next
three years we have four strategic themes: developing talented people and teams, putting the customer first in
everything we do, reaching more people through experiences and partnerships and achieving a financially
sustainable network. These themes summarise what YHA is aiming to achieve and are carried through the
bulletin so you can see the work that is being carried out to achieve our vision.
Putting the customer first in everything we do
Mountaineering Icon Opens YHA Ambleside
On Sunday 28 July, Sir Chris Bonington CBE officially opened YHA Ambleside after the £1.42 million
refurbishment of the prestigious site on the shores of Lake Windermere. The hostel and Lake District staff
organised a truly fabulous open day with customers, corporate guests, staff and local residents enjoying a range
of activities.
Addressing the crowd Sir Chris said: “I started Youth Hostelling in the 1940s and it introduced me to a world of
adventure. I am delighted to see that while the facilities of hostels such as YHA Ambleside have dramatically
improved, the sense of exploration is still at the heart of the organisation.”
Our Chairman, Chris Darmon, also welcomed the refurbishment saying: “YHA Ambleside is truly a flagship
Youth Hostel within the Lake District and the country and I am very pleased that so many of you could join Sir
Chris and YHA in celebrating a site that will enhance the lives of so many young people.”
Our guests then spent the day enjoying the rather splendid steel band [Pantasy!], dragon boat racing, kayaking,
bread making, pond dipping, a Pimms reception, a barbeque, eco-adventures and a visit from the Lake District
Mountaineering team. It was great that our partners helped make the day a success including Leeds Carnegie
and Field Studies Council.
Caroline White would personally like to thank all of the staff at YHA Ambleside and throughout the Lakes for
making the day such a brilliant success. It really showed the organisation off in the best light and the unique
YHA experience that we offer.
YHA Ambleside is a great success.
The empowering experience that is Breaks for Kids
Greenway Academy, Hull recently sent us some feedback on their visit to YHA Grinton in June. The school took
a party of Year 6 children for four nights, and the feedback shows just how special Breaks for Kids is in the
experiences it gives the children! .
In this case the reports are also very complimentary in their appreciation of Grinton Lodge and the locality it sits
in too.
From the teacher:"We are sending you a big, big thank you from the Year 6 children from The Green Way Academy for the
generous grant of £1,500 that you gave us to be used towards our week long residential trip to Grinton Lodge
Youth Hostel. The children had a fantastic time. They got to experience many new things for the first time.
Indeed for some of them it was the first time that they had ever been away from their parents or out of Hull."
..........and from the children:“Grinton Lodge was the best experience ever and I will NEVER forget it. Every day was full of action packed
activities. Our room was class, the view over the moors was fantastic. It was like staying in a 5 Star hotel. The
food was amazing.”
“I so did not want to come back from Grinton. I have never been on a school trip like it ever before. It even beat
the day trip to London. Grinton was beautiful. It is a big old mansion on top of the Yorkshire Moors. It was so
quiet and clean. I couldn’t believe that the only other inhabitants were the sheep! When we got inside it was
really posh. The lounges, restaurant and rooms were lovely and new looking. All of the Youth Hostel staff
looked after us really well. The food was fabulous, breakfast was my best meal of the day as you had hot and
cold to choose from. I would love to go back there and have told my mum and dad that we should go up for a
visit. My sister went last year and I feel so lucky that mum and dad had saved up enough money to let me go
too.”
Bee Thankful & Bee Friendly - attracting new visitors to Hartington Hall
July saw one of the biggest functions held at YHA Hartington Hall for some time. The Friends of the Earth
basecamp hosted over 300 people for three days whilst they held their annual general planning meeting. The
AGM was hosted in the style of a festival with sessions and additional accommodation being provided in yurts
and temporary structures. The weekend was made up of a series of workshops, talks and activities along with a
good amount of social time in the evenings.
Friends of the Earth are famous for winning the world's first climate change law and campaigning for the
recycling bins that we all have at home. In true Friends of the Earth style they didn’t want to hold an event
without giving something back and one of the recurring sessions throughout the weekend was about doing more
to save Britain’s bees which are seriously in danger. These sessions saw FOE planting new plants, shrubs and
seeds that bees are especially attracted to and creating bee friendly areas within the hostel grounds.
The event was well attended and saw us hosting over double our normal capacity, this meant that the staffing
team had to work extra hard to feed everyone in a timely fashion so that they were ready for their next sessions.
With over half of the guests being vegan it was a real challenge for our catering team to provide three meals a
day plus afternoon tea and cakes with variety to suit all tastes. Temporary serveries were set up and we even
did our bit for the environment by turning off the dishwasher and hand washing all of the pots and glasses over
the weekend! This however was not down to choice but more to do with the fact that on Friday night the
dishwasher broke and couldn’t be repaired until Monday morning!
A HUGE thank you must go out to all the of the team at Hartington Hall who helped make the weekend a
success and worked tirelessly throughout.
St Briavels Castle - A Call to Arms 2013
Dust off your suits of armour and iron your wenches frocks for the annual Heritage Open Weekend, Saturday
14th and Sunday 15th September 2013. YHA St Briavels Castle is having a week of celebrations and this is an
event not to be missed; with ghostly tales, rampaging knights, stalls, great food (including a fantastic hosted
banquet on the Saturday night), and loads of fun stalls and activities for all ages.
Have you got anything you can bring to the event ... can you juggle, face paint or have any great ideas with an
historical twist ... Linda Harrison, Manager of YHA St Briavels, would love to hear from
you. [email protected]
However, if you just want to come along and enjoy the fun you are more than welcome to do that too.
Accommodation will be available only 30 minutes up the road at YHA Wye Valley.
A True World First!!
It is a true world first for YHA to have a live birth at one of our hostel sites.
At YHA Jersey - Durrell Wildlife Hostel, one of our YHA Enterprise sites, Dana, a 30 year old Sumatran Orang
Utan, gave birth to a bouncing beautiful baby daughter.
The amazing team of keepers, vets and even some of Jersey General Hospital’s Obstetric staff, are proud to be
part of the safe arrival of Dana's new baby girl. This is especially remarkable because Dana's previous
pregnancy in 2009 suffered complications that sadly resulted in in a stillborn infant. However, expert intervention
by Jersey General Hospital’s Head Obstetrician, Neil MacLachlan, allowed Dana and 28 year-old dominant male
‘Dagu’ to conceive again against all the odds, in late 2012.
Such a birth has never before been captured so closely on film, and you can see the incredible video, including
Dana proudly bringing her daughter to the camera to show her off by clicking here.
It's also worth remembering that when you book and stay at the hostel, apart from access to a fantastic and
unrivalled resource of wildlife information, Durrell includes park passes free to guests for the amazing on site
wildlife centre where they display their conservation work, with everything from the Orangs through Lowland
Gorillas, to Andean Bears. It's an incredible place for YHA to be associated with!
YHA are now downloadable on Garmin Sat Navs
YHA is now available to download onto Garmin Sat Navs as a 'point of interest' accommodation provider. Very
exciting! Have a look here and let everyone you know who has a Garmin Sat Nav know!
http://www.garmin.com/uk/extras-points-of-interest/
Reaching more people through experiences & partnerships
Plymouth University Students Advise Chilli Sauce
A few weeks ago five Chinese students came to volunteer at YHA Penzance. Paul, manager at YHA
Penzance, had accepted a placement programme with Plymouth University and the students had arrived, ready
to be briefed on our strategic objectives, SPIRIT values and vision. The five students were then tasked with
researching how YHA (Penzance) can attract more young people (from China), considering these strategic
goals.
They interviewed guests, visited the local TIC and popular tourist attractions and analysed our web presence.
They also researched customer journeys and potential partnerships that might be gatekeepers to large potential
customer groups.
With only 25 hours volunteering onsite and 25 off-site, the students then wrote a report of their findings, which
they presented the Hostel Manager plus representatives from the University.
Having chilli sauce and soy sauce in the self catering kitchen, adding jasmine tea and a Chinese dish on the
menu were amongst the practical ideas, which fit well with our Inclusivity objective and open opportunities for
more incentives amongst those lines. But the students went much further than that and gave a range of
recommendations from Chinese web presence to marketing to young people via pizza companies. Their report
gave us useful insights and added value to YHA.
The placement also meant we introduced more young people to YHA and established the relationship between
the University and YHA. We can now build on that relationship and create shared PR opportunities, residential
visits and obviously invite more placement students next year round.
YHA embark on new partnership with British Airways
At the beginning of August we are launching a student campaign partnership with British Airways in China and
India.
BA have been successfully running a social media focused campaign in these two markets attracting over 90k
student followers in a very short space of time – they’re looking for a relevant accommodation provider to partner
up with…. That’s where YHA comes in.
The offer will have homepage presence on the local language BA websites and they will push it heavily via the
social channels including Facebook, Twitter and Weibo (China’s equivalent to Twitter).
BA will be using quirky hostel stories to communicate the partner offer to their customers via all their social
channels. We will be offering 10% off all bookings in 15 key hostels as well as "buy one get one free" on
breakfasts when customers present their BA Boarding card at the hostel.
This will be a long standing offer, and is very much a test in the early stages, Here’s looking forward to a very
successful partnership as this could lead to some fantastic opportunities in other markets in the future.
Rachael Rides for FAB
At the end of July Rachael Heathcote (YHA London Central Deputy Manager) embarked on a 540-mile journey
from Whitby to Coverack in just six days. She remembers signing up for the ride after just having bought a road
bike, full of enthusiasm after travelling to Holland to ride in the Amstel Gold Classic.
The route took them to York, Edale, Stratford, Cheddar, Okehampton and finally to Coverack, to find a banner
made by the kids attending the FAB camp there. Everyone lined the driveway clapping them as they pulled up
and there was an amazing BBQ put on for everyone.
Rachael said "Being able to take part in this ride has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
There were definitely some difficult parts but these were often followed by hysterical laughter (or the reward of
realising the final 10 miles of that day were all downhill). It was a pleasure to be able to engage people along
the way and talk to them about the FAB camps and explain why we were riding."
Exploration for All
A company that brings young people to stay in hostels in the Lake District has recently loaded a great video on
youtube from a recent trip. If you’re able to access youtube you can see the video here.
Kevin Foster, currently a head teacher at a primary school in Newcastle, has been using YHA for residentials for
a number of years and has made the decision to retire from teaching at the end of 2013 so that he can follow his
passion for providing "learning outside the classroom", supporting schools on residentials from start to finish.
Kevin's school had stayed at YHA Elterwater for a number of years and Nick Owen, manager at YHA Elterwater,
passed Donna Waring's details onto Kevin. Without Nick doing this we may have missed out on this fantastic
opportunity to work with Kevin.
Because of his passion for learning outside the classroom, Kevin will be supporting schools from initial enquiry,
attending parents evenings, delivery and pretty much everything in between so that there are no barriers for
schools to attend residentials. Donna has worked with Kevin for around three months arranging site visits,
pulling together information, and advice on locations. Kevin is really keen to work with vulnerable young people
and is keen to inform schools about Breaks4kids funding, which he has accessed for his own school. He
believes the fund is a valuable resource which many schools are not aware of.
To date we have 15 primary schools booked into the Lakes, North East and London which is fantastic news and
good going in just two months. This is great business for YHA (around 40k) but also it is about the experience
the young people gain that makes it all worthwile..
More about Kevin's company is at http://explore4all.webeden.co.uk/.
Just the best time
In the late sixties and early seventies Youth Hostels in the summer were often full of young people having a first
trip away from home after finishing exams, celebrating their new found freedom. Michael G Priestley's
book Youth Hostellers is a reminder of that time.
Mike, now a retired teacher, describes how he set out from his parent's comfortable home on the Wirral, with
friends and later with his wife, to enjoy 260 overnight stays at 135 hostels in England, Wales, Scotland and
seven European countries between 1963 and 1975.
The book is packed with memories, and with some nostalgia, written in an easy natural style with a collection of
photos from the time. Priestly and his friends were not archetypal hostellers. They were just a group of young
people having fun, and exploring the world.
They played pick-up games of football wherever they went, they stayed in hostels mostly to meet other people,
to have fun, meet girls (the "talent") and though they cycled they were not cyclists; they gave up bicycles for cars
as soon as they could.
The founding fathers might not have meant Youth Hostels for young people like Mike Priestley and the book
shows how the way in which Youth Hostels were used was changing fast. The understanding of what was
gained from all that fun and exploration only comes at the end of the book when the author writes: "we gained so
much that we have benefited from in later life, whether it was in opening up the extraordinary diversity… of our
own country or the opportunity to travel more widely within continental Europe and meet interesting people…"
They neither walked, nor consciously explored the countryside but they "just had the best time."
As well as understanding what was happening in the sixties and seventies those who weren't part of that
generation may laugh to discover one of the attractions drying rooms offered when Youth Hostels only had large
dorms and when private space was almost impossible to find.
Youth Hostellers (86pp) published by Michael G. Priestley books available from
19, Ridgeway Close, Farnsfield, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG22 8DT, tel 01623883178 or email [email protected]
YHA Road Trip
What are we doing?
1.
2.
We need to reinvigorate our relationship with students by communicating to them in their world
Research tells us that showcasing YHA changes perceptions and generates interest
So…We’re taking YHA on the road. The YHA road trip in a nutshell
We’re taking an unsigned band on a road trip in a 1970s bright green (branded) camper van called Rosie,
visiting 5 hostels in 7 days. The launch press event was on the rooftop of London St Pauls on 5th August, then
on to Danywenalt, Bristol, Treyarnon, Beer and back to London for a closing press event on Monday 12th
August
The band - the Intermission Project - have taken a gap year from their A levels to pursue a career in music.
Their first EP launches at the end of July and true to our core values YHA are right behind them to help them
become a big success. They will be playing live at 5 music events by turning hostels into music venues for the
day/night. They will play to an audience of students and journalists and will participate in local activities along
the way which will be captured live on social media.
The campaign will be amplified by maximising our relationship with partners such as Visit England, the band,
their music PR and promoters as well as the community we have engaged in the student campaign to date
This is a first for YHA and a first for the band. If they are a success it will be YHA who has put them on the map quite literally!
Not quite Glastonbury
Roughly 40,000 people passed through the gates of the Stratford-upon-Avon River Festival on 6th and 7th July,
so on the two hottest days of the year the hostel team braved sunstroke and dehydration to set up their stall and
spread the word about the new and improved YHA Stratford-upon-Avon. The new bar, restaurant and the fact
that it is now an up and coming music venue featured as well as telling everyone about the rest of the network.
There were about 60 stalls, 20 of which were charity stalls; amongst them Friends of the Earth, RNLI and First
Response. There was live music, bars and food stalls as well as face painting, and a rather large climbing wall,
something for everyone.
There was a lot of interest shown about the hostel as a music venue and restaurant, and now more people are
aware that they can come along and enjoy an evening at YHA Stratford.
Schools out.. YHA's in..
A cave hostel with stone beds, a ‘twitter’ castle for ‘hipsters’, a tree house recluse, a pirate ship and a hobbit
hide-out…. just a few ideas for the next super-hostel at Highfield School’s Industry Day on Wednesday.
With usual timetables suspended for the eighty buzzing year nines, five staff also stepped away from our desks
to go back to school for the day. With the purpose of raising the teenagers' awareness of the ‘wide ranging
nature of industry’, our wonderful green t-shirts certainly contrasted with the suited and booted corporates of
Natwest and Bombardier in the staffroom.
After giving each of the groups a short explanation of what actually happened in that ‘big white building’ on
Dimple Road and getting them to consider what role they would apply for at a hostel (Activity Manager most
popular choice), we got down to the activities. The ‘construct-a-hostel’ challenge (building the tallest ‘hostel’ you
can in 10 minutes with spaghetti, marshmallows, sellotape and string) was another favourite with one group
managing an impressive pyramid structure and another begging to use the ceiling as a support for his 3 meter
rod of spaghetti!!
They loved designing their own imaginative hostels and it was brilliant watching them pitch them in an
Apprentice-style pitch to the Dragons (the teachers) and classmates.
One of the best things about getting into schools and meeting all these amazing young people is being able to
take YHA to them in a relevant, fun and inspiring way. It really gives you a buzz knowing that you have the
power to paint their, often first, impressions of what we do and feel good knowing that they are so much more
likely to come and explore in the future.
International Exchange Programme Welcomes Stayokay
Having set up successful exchange programmes with both Germany and Spain, YHA has now formed a strong
relationship with Stayokay, the Dutch association. Two members of staff from YHA London Central visited
several Dutch hostels and met with Stayokay Hostel Managers and their teams. There is a great deal of
excitement from both organisations at the prospect of working closely together, exchanging staff, best practice
and experiences. The Stayokay hostels were varied in size, location and guest type but all offered a very high
standard of accommodation.
Catia Costa from YHA London Central worked at Vondelpark for two weeks, exchanging places with Wendy
Bosma of Stayokay . Wendy said "What I really like in your hostel, is that there is a relaxed environment where
the staff can make a real connection with the guests."
Catia Costa added "I could not have received a better welcome at Stayokay. Here, no work day was the same, I
was given the opportunity to work in every department. It was overwhelming at times to have to learn a new job
every day, but everyone was willing to help, understanding and genuinely interested in the YHA and London.
The highlight of my experience is the people that I met and how welcoming they all were".
Achieving a financially sustainable network
The Pods are landing!
Back in February the Board approved an investment of £1million towards the roll out of alternative
accommodation across the network.
Alternative accommodation includes pods, cabins, camping huts, yurts, tipis, treehouses, shepherds huts and
the like. Following the success of the YHA Grinton and YHA Hawkshead trials, we’ve now got 2 more sites
selling alternative accommodation in the form of family and standard pods and a further 4 pods have gone in at
Hawkshead taking their tally upto 8.
Both Borrowdale and South Downs are now offering these as part of their accommodation portfolio and the first
customers arrived at the beginning of July. The roll out of alternative accommodation will continue and subject to
planning approval, early next year we will launch arctic cabins and mega pods at Jordans and New Forest, with
further analysis of other sites and a ‘group’ product being considered for investment as part of this exciting
project.
Finally, two of our enterprise sites at Wooller and Bivouac who sell shepherd’s huts and camping barns will also
benefit from our enhanced marketing activity that is supporting this ‘project’.
Lulworth Cove gets garden makeover
It's fair to say YHA Lulworth Cove doesn't have a tonne of cash to be splashing on the garden. However, what
they do have is a team who spend way too much time drooling over http://pinterest.com/compai/upcycled/ and a
lot of old wooden bunk beds which have been scrapped.
Rather than chucking the wooden ones on the skip, they've been transformed into a couple of new garden
features.
Picture 1 - using a pre-existing ugly drain cover, a damaged clay pot, a few bits of bunk bed plank, a couple of
wooden curtain rails, and a bunch of plants acquired from friendly neighbours, they have what Mr Diarmuid
Gavin would call a "focal point".
Picture 2 - keen compost fans will be aware that the ultimate compost bin is a three compartment set up where
you can easily toss your semi-composted waste into the next compartment, aerating it in the process, and
thereby speeding up the breakdown of organic taste. More normal people won't care. But for the keen compost
fans amongst you, check out the new bespoke three compartment compost bin! It's entirely made of upcycled
bunks.
And their lovely local garden centre gave them plants valued £200 in exchange for some publicity for their
delicious cafe and farm shop, their pick your own fruit, and their spectacular range of high quality plants.
SHEQ – keeping YHA safe
The SHEQ (Safety, Health & Environmental Quality) team have been busy following up on safety concerns
raised by an eagle eyed Hostel Manager in July.
After spotting a news feature on his local television, Gary from YHA Dartmoor emailed the SHEQ team. He
brought to our attention that some kitchen equipment, including a known brand in YHA, may be the focus of
safety concerns.
Within a few hours of receiving the information, the SHEQ team were able to track all potential equipment
through YHA's asset register. Hostels with any equipment listed in the safety notice were contacted and given
suitable advice, safety inspections arranged, and any work required arranged to be undertaken.
We continue to keep the organisation as safe as we can for staff and customers alike.
Global Gossip confirmed as YHA's partner
Following an exhaustive tender process to identify the best partner to supply broadband for guests to use in
hostels, our incumbent supplier Global Gossip have won a renewal of their contract for a further three years.
The world of broadband provision has changed dramatically over the last 3 years, with further reach, and with
more people accessing services via wi-fi on tablets, smartphones and other hand held devices. The demand for
free wi-fi is ever growing.
YHA has undertaken a trial in three London hostels providing wi-fi free to members as a benefit, transferring
these hostels onto a new High Speed Internet Access Platform, in conjunction with Global Gossip. The trial is
being evaluated, and it is proposed initially to move all existing wi-fi hostels onto the new platform, and provide
the service free to members. The roll out will be subject to a phased plan, and the relevant hostels will be
contacted shortly, and comprehensively briefed.
The renewed arrangements with Global Gossip provide YHA with a range of opportunities and services for
marketing and for keeping our guests informed which will be exploited over the coming months. Exciting times
lie ahead for our partnership!
It should be noted that free wi-fi for members does not start yet, and needs to be coordinated alongside the
system upgrades, training schedule and a comms plan to members.
London Marathon 2013 - final income for Breaks for Kids
The Virgin London Marathon team for 2013 ran 26.2 miles in April and Karen Frampton reports that our small
team raised over £16,000 for their efforts. Every hard earned penny is very well deserved as whatever the
conditions on the day, however hard they trained beforehand and whoever was there to support them, this is a
massively tough challenge that they should all be very proud to have completed. YHA is very grateful and
proud.
As is usual, some of the runners found it harder to raise their money than others and there are some absolute
stars in the big money stakes! One is our own Trustee Paul Wright, who managed to support Breaks for Kids to
the sum of £3,203.26 with Gift Aid. Paul will not mind us telling you that he decided to take the challenge after
being a volunteer supporter in YHA Thameside the previous couple of years and is a new man having
completed this challenge. Paul lost a lot of weight in the process and is now much fitter and healthier as a
consequence! Well done indeed to Paul and the other members of team YHA 2013, of whom we are equally in
awe!
We now turn our attention to the Virgin London Marathon 2014 so if you are interested in running, supporting or
sponsoring our team do get in touch. For further information contact Stacey Smalley or Karen Frampton on
01629 592723/720 or email [email protected] .
You can promote the 'new' Breaks for Kids fund
Many groups that stay with us do not apply to receive any funding support through Breaks for Kids because they
don't know about the bursaries the fund offers.
Almost every school and community group throughout the country will have children who are eligible
and they could probably all receive some financial help towards their trips.
As well as this, the criteria have recently been expanded so that schools from Scotland and Northern
Ireland can apply, as can other charities. Many small community groups are set up as charities, often so they
can tap into funding to help their work with young people.
Breaks for Kids is a fantastic programme that helps develop young people in so many different ways. All of
the children that travel within a group, even those that are fully paid for by their parents, benefit through the
opportunities and activities offered as part of a brief hostel stay.
The benefits in telling people about Breaks for Kids should rapidly increase the numbers of young people we are
supporting and help us get closer to the 1 million target as well as significantly increasing income through
Breaks for Kids both for hostels and for the business as a whole.
Children who are 18 and under, permanent residents of England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and
travelling as part of an organised group are eligible. In addition the family must be claiming free school meals
for their child or be in receipt of income support or housing benefit or the equivalent. Those meeting the
criteria are entitled to up to 50% off the cost of food and accommodation.
To apply please direct interested group leaders to http://www.yha.org.uk/school-trips/funding or speak to Karen
Frampton or Stacey Smalley on 01629 592723/592720.
Developing talented people and teams
AGM 2013
The YHA AGM took place on Saturday 13 July at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, with
delegates spending the night before at YHA Manchester. Delegates had the opportunity to view displays by the
Volunteering, Property and Marketing teams plus one celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Postellers Group.
The AGM opened with a review of 2012/13 by Caroline White in which she highlighted the successes of the past
year and outlined the challenges facing us for the year ahead. Alan Bourne, the Treasurer, built on this with a
more detailed financial review of YHA’s past year. Our President, the Rt Hon Richard Caborn, paid tribute to
YHA for facing up to its challenges and urged us to work on linking sport and health in introducing young people
to the countryside.
All three National Officer roles were up for election at this meeting, for varying terms of office. Chris Darmon
was re-elected as Chairman through to the 2015 AGM, Peter Gaines was elected Vice Chairman for a one-year
period, and Alan Bourne was re-elected Treasurer through to the 2016 AGM.
The Council Nominations Panel, responsible for Trustee recruitment, put forward 8 candidates for the 5 Trustee
positions falling vacant at this AGM; the 5 voted onto the Board were Helen Maurice-Jones, Lindsey Fairbrother
and Harry Horton (all of whom had been standing for re-election) and two new Trustees: Chris Roberts and
Nicola Scrivings. Chris is a solicitor and Nicola has a background in property and governance. We look
forward to their contribution and working with them.
The AGM took the historic step of voting through changes to the Articles which will in 2014 permit an extra 38
places to be available at the AGM to the wider membership rather than attendance being restricted to a few
categories of people. This will give the AGM a whole new outlook and flavour and a working group has been set
up to manage the process for next year.
Crewenna Dymond, Head of Volunteering, gave an upbeat presentation on the progress of the Volunteering
Strategy since 2011 which has seen a 11% growth in the number of volunteering hours and 25% of our 1,100
active volunteers are under 26. Priorities had been building capacity to host volunteers and looking after them
on the volunteer journey. Looking forward, themes for the future include increasing the number of volunteers,
further support for their development, increasing diversity and inclusivity and encouraging more local
volunteering
The Chairman led a discussion on the future role and responsibilities of the regions. This was a matter of keen
interest for all in the room, as over the past year the subject has been debated several times at Regional/Wales
Council and Board level in an attempt to define what the future might look like for our Councils. He concluded
that despite efforts made at all levels, it seemed unlikely the current regional structure would be able to reach
out to our members and encourage more people to take a greater interest in YHA’s governance. Everything that
individual members of Councils do as volunteers can still happen, but required a different constitutional
framework. He proposed building on widening the attendance at the next AGM already agreed by aiming for a
completely open AGM in 2016 with trustees elected by electronic voting and the Chairman, Vice Chairman and
Treasurer elected by the Board of Trustees rather than by AGM delegates. Some lively discussion ensued with
a number of delegates expressing their views that time had come for change and they looked forward to hearing
how the proposals would work.
A motion from Northern England Regional Council concerning the establishment of “Friends of” groups for
hostels was not carried, and it was agreed a further motion suggesting a member survey to establish their
interests in YHA should lie on the table given the change of Councils’ roles to take place. Wales Council put
forward a motion calling for renewed vigour in the search for a new hostel in Cardiff, and the Chief Executive
updated them on progress with this.
The final part of meeting saw a presentation by Joe Lynch about the refreshed membership offering and sample
membership packs were handed out.
Finally, two Trevelyan Medals were awarded to our retiring Vice President, Derek Hanson OBE, and to Diane
Nightingale MBE, in recognition of their work for the hostelling movement. Honorary Life Memberships were
awarded to Duncan Simpson, Martin Green, John Templeton and Lindsey Porter.
Volunteering Report 2012-13
The latest annual report on the fantastic achievements of everyone working with volunteers is now available.
The report highlights the variety of roles that volunteers undertake for YHA and how the volunteer community is
changing and developing all of the time.
Key results from the Volunteer Impact Survey 2012 are also included which have helped shape plans for this
year’s priorities and will inform future initiatives.
If you’d like us to feature you more next year please shout! We are always looking for great quotes, photos and
stories to showcase how volunteering benefits YHA and brings people together.
Summer camp volunteers amaze us again!
Nearly 80 volunteers joined us for this year’s summer camp training course and as always they were amazingly
enthusiastic, committed and hard-working.
During the course they were trained in safeguarding, in the John Muir Award and in dealing with challenging
behaviour in young people.
The team at Edale entertained the volunteers with simple games they can also run at camp with a few everyday
bits and pieces, and also gave the volunteers a chance to try out activities like crate stack and archery. All the
hostel/deputy/activity managers came to the training too to meet their volunteer team and help introduce them to
the programme at their sites. They were supported by their Camp Managers, who are responsible for delivering
the camp and supervising all the volunteers.
Together we’ve given the volunteers the best start to being summer camp team leaders we can, and soon it will
be over to them to give the camp participants a summer to remember!
YHA goes for Investing in Volunteers accreditation
Following YHA’s recent success at achieving Investors in People Gold, it's perfect timing to go for Investing in
Volunteers accreditation too! Achieving the accreditation will be fantastic for YHA for many reasons:
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Demonstrating how far YHA has come to involve volunteers fully across the organisation
Showing YHA’s commitment to delivery mutually beneficial and high quality volunteering
It’s a great story to tell externally and to give potential volunteers and partners confidence in working with
us in future.
Encouraging us to continue to improve our offer to volunteers and providing a framework to work within
Giving confidence to everyone working with volunteers that our policies and practice are appropriate
Shows YHA’s wider outlook as a volunteer-involving charity
Benchmarks YHA against other charities and gives us a quality kite-mark to be proud of.
Our assessment will take place during this autumn and winter and the Assessor will work with YHA until we
achieve the IiV standard. As you’d expect there are some indicators for us to demonstrate, they cover the
following areas:
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Commitment to volunteering
Appropriate resources
Diversity
Appropriate roles
Protected from harm
Consistent recruitment
Induction and training
Support needs
Recognition
The assessment process involves meeting with staff including those directly supervising volunteers, and a range
of volunteers and he will make some hostel visits. Crewenna Dymond, Head of Volunteering, said "I am really
confident that YHA is in the best position we can be to go for IiV accreditation".
Montgomery High School – World of Work Programme
July 3 and 4 saw two groups from YHA travel to Lancashire to be part of the World of Work programme for 2013
at Montgomery High School in Bispham, north Blackpool.
The programme actively encourages students to develop their practical skills when it comes to attending
interviews, through from the completion of application forms and creation of CVs to attending a formal interview.
Caroline White, Alison Green, Crewenna Dymond and Jean Kerry arrived on the Wednesday and a second
team of participants arrived bright and early on the Friday.
The school is proud of their reputation for securing both high quality academic achievement and providing the
best possible learning opportunities and support for all students, so the World of Work programme has become
a core part of their careers curriculum.
This is the third year YHA has been involved and the ethos of the event fits fantastically well with YHA’s mission
to inspire all, especially young people, to broaden their horizons, gaining knowledge and independence through
new experiences.
Liane Coultas, Library and Careers Manager, commented “We would like to thank you for coming to
Montgomery this week to help us with our World of Work week. The week has gone very well and we could not
have done this without your help.”
What was inspiring for us all was the depth of talent waiting to enter the jobs market and if this is a reflection of
future employees then organisations will benefit in the future.
Thank you Montgomery High School for letting us through your doors, I’m sure we will be back again next year.
The World of Work Programme is endorsed by FTSE 100 companies and leading business organisations,
including Airbus, CBI, Ford Europe, NHS, GKN Aerospace, Marks and Spencer, Siemens, Sony and YHA.
Base25 at the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting
At the end of July, Hannah Potten and Naomi Halloran set off to the Annual UK Youth Parliament Sitting at
Leeds University. The mission: to recruit and inspire some of the UK’s top young politicians to join the Base25
network as well as the chance to meet 130 dedicated local authority workers who support these young leaders.
The Annual Youth Sitting (now in its thirteenth year) brings together over 250 diverse elected members of youth
parliament, from all backgrounds, to engage in lively debates over issues of concern to young people. They also
kick start the policy process which leads to the topics being chosen for debate in the UKYP sitting in the House
of Commons on 15th November this year.
Between workshops, speeches and lots of food, Hannah and Naomi managed to recruit over 30 young people to
the Base25 network. Despite YHA being new and sparkly for some, all of the young leaders they spoke to were
excited by the prospect of joining the network to help make a big difference to what we do, whilst building their
CVs, travelling and meeting new people. Many will naturally be fantastic ambassadors for Base25 and great
attendees at the Youth Conference in November. They will also be key in helping to promote YHA generally to
other young people in their communities.
We look forward to the value and knowledge they will bring to Base25.
Remember if you, or anyone you know is aged 16-25, get in touch to get involved with Base25 and help reach
out to more young people through volunteering and consultative work. Please contact
me [email protected].
Student Placement Kick Off
On Monday 15 July, Yao Sun and Sophie Bristow started their placements with YHA. Both students from
Bournemouth University, they are about to embark on a journey of 30-40 weeks, discovering how we operate as
an organisation.
Their placement is a divided into blocks of six weeks, volunteering in different hostels each period. These
phases are all linked to our strategic objectives, enabling the students to experience the strategic wheel put into
practice.
With their backgrounds in tourism and hospitality and being under 26, they have been tasked with exploring how
we can attract more young people to our charity - both as customers and employees.
Every six weeks they will report on their experiences. They will also write a business plan - based on our
strategic wheel - with practical ideas of how we can attract more young people. Hostels that they will visit
include Beer, Salcombe, Treyarnon Bay, Wye Valley, Oxford and a trip overseas to Hamburg/Amsterdam.
This will be a fantastic opportunity for both the students and YHA; donating over 2,800 volunteering hours and
helping us deliver our vision as they will have a very positive impact on our organisation, whilst they build a
strong foundation for their future careers by taking a holistic approach to understanding how we operate and
seek for improvements.
Congratulations on the Royal baby
We were delighted to hear the news of the birth of His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. As the
Queen is patron of YHA we have written to her sending loyal greetings and our congratulations on the arrival of
her great-grandson. The Chairman has written to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge offering our
congratulations and presenting them with honorary family life membership.
Malcolm & Olga Long Service Award
After much secretive planning, a celebration lunch was held to present long service awards to Malcolm and Olga
Earnslcliff from YHA Swanage at the last South Central team meeting, without them suspecting a thing!
It was Malcolm and Olga’s last team meeting with YHA and all in South Central area wished them well as they
left for pastures new.
Moving On & Moving Back!
Tony Hammond, Operations Manager for ‘London & University Cities’, has left YHA to join ‘EAT’ and run some
of their key London operations. Tony joined YHA in June 2009 and became OM for London in 2011. He made a
positive impact on his area, galvanising and developing the team, and on the wider organisation.
Ben Atwell, Operations Manager for the South West, will be returning to the capital
responsibiulity for 'London and University Cities' from 12 August.
and assuming full
Walking the Cambrian Way in memory of Tony Drake MBE
On June 22nd Karen Frampton, Fundraising Manager, represented YHA at an event in mid-Wales where she
participated in a seven mile walk along part of the Cambrian Way from Soar y Myndd to YHA Ty'n Cornel to
witness the dedication of a special bench seat in memory of Tony Drake MBE.
Her invitation came courtesy of Mavis Rear, Honorary Secretary and trustee of the Ramblers Holidays
Charitable Trust, who kindly support Breaks for Kids with a generous £10,000 donation each year.
Mrs Rear is one of the executors in the estate of Tony Drake, who died last year after a lifetime of dedicated
work supporting both YHA and the Ramblers Association. You might recall the piece in "Connect" about his
work campaigning tirelessly for access and rights of way recently.
Tony has left a significant legacy for YHA to use in Wales and a similar bequest will go to the Ramblers
Association when the estate is distributed later this year.
This special part of mid Wales was chosen for the event as it was special to Tony - The Cambrian Way is
referred to affectionately by his friends and regular Ramblers as Tony's Way. The bench Karen was asked to
help unveil in memory of Tony will remain outside YHA Ty'n Cornel, where many a tired mountain trekker will sit
and admire the stunning scenery all around.