Today we at BYHP are very excited to announce that we are launching BYHP’s Big Week of Fairport Madness, helping to raise funds to support the work BYHP does annually with 200 to 300 young people - and often their families – in the Banbury and surrounding areas.
 
BYHP offers a range of free services which help young people aged between   13-25, but in order to do that, we need to raise over £240,000 a year to keep the charity open and running.
 
We get a huge amount of support from many people, organisations and businesses locally and some further afield, which we are truly grateful for.
 
However it is an ongoing activity making sure that there is enough money to enable BYHP to provide professionally run Family Mediation, Counselling, Housing and Homelessness Advice and Employability services for the young people we work with, at no cost to them, ensuring no one is excluded from accessing the services.
 
We really try hard to thank our supporters but it is rare that we can offer a gift to thank them to really show our appreciation for their generosity.
 
Well, this time, we are delighted that for one focused week of fundraising we are able to link the donations to a very special free prize draw to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to any donor giving BYHP £10 or more between today and Sunday 8th August.
 
As part of the support they offer BYHP, linked to our attendance at the festival, our friends at the Fairport Cropredy Convention office via one of BYHP’s dedicated volunteers Ian Huband of Pub Stuff, have matched a wonderful offer we have received from one of the most energetic of headlining acts, Madness.
 
They are offering four three day Full Weekend Festival Tickets so that the winners of the "Meet and Greet" with Madness, offered by Madness’ management company Hannah Management, will be able to attend for the whole weekend.
 
Yes – you read correctly – a unique free prize draw for supporters of BYHP donating between now and midnight on Sunday 8th August:
                                               
4 x three day Full Weekend Festival Tickets (worth £520)
4 people get to do a “Meet and Greet” with the headlining act on Thursday 11th August - Madness
 
All of the details are above and you should also read the Ts&Cs below to make sure you are in the free prize draw after donating to BYHP.
  
Thanks also to local supporter Mark Petterson and our friends at Centrepoint in London, another much bigger Homelessness charity, who helped us set this up.

​Over the past week, we have been doing work experience with BYHP. We have been involved in the ‘Unlocking Potential’ course and have really enjoyed working with Aida and the young people. Banbury Young Homelessness project has welcomed us and given us the opportunity to develop new skills and gain an unforgettable experience. We have seen the amazing work that the charity do, including supporting young people to build CV’s to gain employment and providing one to one discussions, helping the young people to develop themselves. Over the course of the week there were various different speakers from local businesses that came in to speak to the young people about volunteering, business enterprise and helping them to develop vital employability skills. When speaking to the young people they told us that since starting the course they have developed their confidence and BYHP has helped them to become more motivated and socialise with other young people. The opportunities that BYHP provides the young people with are invaluable and over our short time being here we have seen young people growing as they gain employment and discover what it is that they want to do in the future. We were involved in creating teaching and learning resources, leading activities and playing games with the young people, and have seen how much this benefits them. It has been amazing to see how confident the young people have become and how much they value and enjoy the experiences that BYHP provides them with. 
By Kirsty Jarvis, Emma Buttler and Megan Husband