Ed Boggis takes part in our disability football programme Ability Counts at Inspire.

Like many young people, Ed Boggis had always enjoyed playing football with his friends; however taking part in training and matches wasn’t as straightforward for Ed as it was for his peers.

Having Down’s Syndrome meant that whilst he was a talented player, he was fighting a constant and exhausting battle in an attempt to keep up with his team-mates.

Thanks to Inspire’s disability football programme Ability Counts, Ed has the same football opportunities as mainstream players, regularly joining and competing against boys of a similar age and ability and captaining his team in regional competitions.

These sessions have given Ed the chance to take part in regular training and competitive matches. It has also improved his fitness, boosted his self-esteem, confidence and his overall well-being too.

Ed’s parents Phil and Alison have seen the positive impact the programme has had on their son and have even benefited from his involvement in the programme themselves. They told us:

“As parents, we have seen our son develop and mature during his time on the programme. Ed has gained a great deal from being involved in the project in that he has made new friends, learnt to be considerate of others as well as improving his fitness and of course his football skills and ability.”

“It has also given us the chance to meet and speak with other parents who have children with additional needs and their support has been invaluable.”

Before he met Inspire, Dean was struggling to integrate back into society after being on the wrong side of the law. He had moved to start fresh and was looking for something to do, however, he was at a low point with his confidence getting the better of him with being in a new place.

Dean met one of our Team Leaders Jacob who told him about our Prince’s Trust Team programme running in Stowmarket for 12 weeks, which would help to build his confidence, skills for work and give him lots of experience to allow him to progress onto a positive next step.

He was feeling a little unsure about the programme at the start but took on the outward bound residential trip, which happens in week 2. He was able to get away from his current situation focusing all of his energy on his time away. He had a chance to do activities that he had never done before including low ropes, canoeing, learning new skills and building team skills.

He was able to gain confidence through the various activities and took the role of a natural leader, always encouraging other team members to join in and checking how everyone was doing. Whilst on residential, Dean and his team had a visit from our charity Patron and Inspire 30 Club member Andy Perrin from Hemisphere Freight, where Andy shared stories of his life and journey with the team. He found Andy’s visit really inspirational and felt like he could connect to the stories Andy was telling.

Andy Perrin Managing Director of Hemisphere Freight said:

“From day one Dean came across as being courteous, polite and thoughtful and it was clear he wanted to gain the maximum benefit from the programme. I had no hesitation in offering him the opportunity of two weeks work experience.”

“Whilst he was more anxious than I expected, his honesty in communicating that he needed to take his time to ensure he got things right was refreshing! Over the two weeks, he not only grasped the opportunity but grew in confidence and successfully completed a course to gain his counterbalance forklift license. From my own observations and the positive feedback I received from my team, I offered Dean a full-time position and in the few months that he has been with us at Hemisphere Freight, he has proven to be reliable, hard-working and extremely conscientious.”

“We are very proud to have Dean working with us and representing us in such a professional manner and he in turn should be proud of his own achievements!”

Team programme has given Dean opportunities that he otherwise wouldn’t be able to access, including a work experience placement at Hemisphere Freight, which came from Andy Perrin’s visits to the programme. During his time on his work experience, he had the opportunity to complete his Forklift Training, which has been such a beneficial experience for him and some great experience to bring with him. Dean made such a good impression whilst completing his work placement that he has been offered a full-time job at Hemisphere Freight after finishing Team programme. He has now started his job at Hemisphere and is doing really well!

Daisy is 16 years old, the youngest in her group on the Prince’s Trust Team programme with Inspire. She is a very friendly and sweet young girl, who always has an open mind to matters. Daisy has a kind heart and always puts others before herself, however before the programme her self-esteem had diminished, and she found herself lost.

Daisy moved out of home earlier in the year having only just turned 16 because of tensions with her mother and difficulties in their relationship started to appear. She was struggling with her own mental health, feeling low and distracted after moving out and into her boyfriend’s family home. Her low motivation and poor mental health lead to her dropping out of school just months before she was due to sit her GCSE exams and although she was predicted good grades in her exams, Daisy left school with no qualifications and no aspirations.

She then made a rushed decision to apply for a Hair and Beauty course, which she wasn’t really interested in, but she went onto any course that would give her a place. She enjoyed the college environment, but the long bus journeys proved too difficult for her, causing huge anxieties about attending college and again triggering her poor mental health. Daisy, therefore, dropped out of college after only a couple of weeks and again found herself in a situation where she didn’t know what to do with herself and lacking even more confidence in herself and abilities.

Daisy met our Team Leader, Naomi, on the Friday before our Prince’s Trust Team programme was due to start on the Monday, which was a blessing as she didn’t have time to overthink the idea of the programme and let her anxieties put her off it. She was hesitant as to what to expect from it all but now believes that Inspire has really supported her by building her confidence which she says has “gone through the roof and rocketed”. Daisy has pushed herself every day to get to know her team members and her motivation has improved as the programme has given her a purpose and something to get up for every day.

In week nine of the programme, the group all looked at each other’s strengths and skills and the team members gave the following strengths to Daisy; friendly, open-minded, natural leader, positive attitude, focused and organised. This led to Daisy taking the Project Manager role for one of their community projects, which opened her eyes and gave her the confidence and belief in herself that she didn’t have before.

Daisy has been so pro-active on the programme after finding her new lease of confidence and secured herself a job at Pizza Express – she has already done 4 shifts in the role! She admits it is a challenge, especially when it becomes a very busy working environment, but she now has belief in herself that she can manage her anxieties and is determined to carry on working there.

Daisy has taken another huge step and applied to do her Maths and English qualifications in the New Year to achieve what she was unable to at school. Daisy is also keen to build up her hours at work, however she has learnt to take every day as it comes.

In June 2017, Lowestoft Team 19 embarked on their journey to complete a community project as part of their Prince’s Trust Team programme with Inspire. The team got to work researching many organisations and charities and schools who may have needed help to complete a project. Many of the team had not been tasked with such a research project since leaving school, which enabled them time to develop their IT and researching skills.

The team visited a number of local organisations to discover what projects were available for them to undertake. After a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages, the benefits the projects would have and a blind vote, the Team decided to take on a project at Pathways Care Farm who wanted to join two circular walks around the farm into one figure of 8 by creating a trail and steps, in order to create a new nature trail to walk their Alpacas.

All of the team members believed that this project was valued most by the community and supported people from all walks of life. It also supported those with obstacles close to the obstacles they or their families have faced themselves. The team thought about all the materials that would be required to create the pathway and soon realised that they would need to do lots of fundraising in order to complete the project. They did a Fancy Dress bake sale and tombola in Lowestoft Town Centre, where they donned costumes such as a tin of Spam, a Banana, Alice in Wonderland and Batman. The team rallied together and raised £117 for their materials.

Day One of the project came and the team started by having an initial tour of the farm site and a health and safety talk. They got to work clearing the pathway of overgrown weeds and general rubbish. After a morning of hard graft, enough material had been moved that a string line could now be placed to mark out the first part of the pathway.

The team continued to work for the next two days using spades and shovels to work at the bank and create the new pathway. First, the posts were put in place ready for the railway sleeper steps. Once the steps were created after a lot of hard work – as you can see in the pictures – it was time for the wheelbarrow relay to begin with the team transferring topsoil into the steps to fill them and then Type 1 gravel into each step and along the pathway to create the surface layer. The gravel was heavier and more difficult than the soil to move, but this didn’t stop the team! They worked together and got the job done to a high standard.

All of the Team members were given the opportunity to develop their skills using a variety of tools. This was extremely hard work in the summer sun and took a lot of determination and teamwork to complete the job.

The team even finished with enough time to have a BBQ with the clients at Pathways Care Farm. During the two weeks on the farm, the team learnt how beneficial the care farm is to the local community. Many of the team did not know what a Care Farm was before completing the project – you can find out more information here. One team member, Annabelle Morling, used the project to help her decide on her work experience and went on to complete work experience at a Care Farm in Toft Monks called Clinks Care Farm and used that opportunity to boost her own confidence to enable her to go back to full-time college upon completion of the Team programme with us.

As well as their Community Project, the students also take part in an outward bound residential activity trip, take part in work placements, engage with local companies and learn skills for work including CV building. On completion of the course, they achieve a nationally recognised certificate from the Prince’s Trust in Employment, Teamwork and Community Skills. Find out more about the programme and where there is one near you here.

When we met Callum, he was in a bad way. He had dropped out of school where he was doing his A-Levels and started taking drugs. Eventually, he ended up in the hospital and realised he needed to make a change. Callum started Team programme and achieved his Level 2 qualification, but the residential trip was his turning point.

“Before Team Programme, I was off the rails. I was generally unmotivated, and a bit low. I smoked quite a lot of weed and didn’t do a lot else. I wasn’t working.

The residential trip helped me the most because it was an opportunity to talk to people. I knew a lot of people there already and I started to socialise a bit more. Before that, I spoke to my pals and that was it.

After the programme, I started work at Prezzos and got my bar job back. I chat to customers and I’m a hard worker. I’m also doing Forensics a Colchester Institute and have learnt to drive.

I want to say a special thanks to Sharon, my Team Leader, for all her help.”

We are incredibly proud of the bright future Callum has built for himself. He has transformed his life and, with the help of Inspire, has developed the confidence and life skills to build on his success. We look forward to seeing the path Callum takes and wish him all the best for the future.