Twenty-seven young people – and I (!) – have had an incredible start to 2015.

We are privileged to have internationally-acclaimed choreographer & director Matthew Bourne OBE as one of our Patrons and I met with him last year to discuss how we could work together to benefit vulnerable young people. It was an inspiring meeting of minds, from which came our first collaboration, a six day dance residency with his dance charity Re:Bourne at Sadler’s Wells.

This experience has been transformational for 27 young people, one of whom wrote to me:

“After spending the week following my passion and my dream, I am even more sure than ever that I will be a dancer.”

Between 3 and 8 January, 25 young carers drawn from seven London boroughs, four children from Rickmansworth School and two of our dance volunteers worked together as a dance company to devise and rehearse a new dance piece, Our Hands. All the ideas and moves were devised by the young people under the expert direction of Kerry Biggin and Paul Smethurst, professional dancer/choreographers from Matthew’s dance company New Adventures.

I spent a wonderful weekend – so worth cutting short my festive break for – watching the skill and commitment of these incredible leaders as they encouraged the diverse group of young people to get to know one another (most of them had never met before), build trusting relationships and work as a cohesive team (crucial for dance) as the new steps unfurled. Their creativity shone through, friendships blossomed and confidence soared as they developed a six-minute “Curtain Raiser” that inspired, delighted and moved to tears an audience of family members and professional dancers – more than 30 members of New Adventures – at the dress rehearsal on the main stage at Sadler’s Wells on the afternoon of 8 January.

I had the privilege of meeting families as they arrived and one mother – who has given me permission to tell this story – told me about her life and what the week had done for her daughter, Sylvie (not her real name). They had spent the last six Christmases, she said, in hospital with her husband. First he had his leg amputated; then he got terminal cancer; last year he died leaving them bereft. Sylvie, who had provided much of his care – medical assistance, household chores, emotional support – was now failing to cope and had been excluded from a school that did not know how to deal with her challenging behaviour and emotional distress. She and Sylvie had spent this Christmas looking at each other, lost because they didn’t have a father in a hospital to visit.

Then Sylvie started our dance residency. This gave her a chance to express her feelings, explore her creativity, meet other young carers and share experiences. As part of the young dance company, she had to work hard, remain focused and develop physical and emotional resilience. The evening before, I learnt, her mother had gone to Sylvie’s bedroom at 11.30pm to say goodnight and found her standing in front of a full length mirror rehearsing her moves. When I asked Sylvie the overriding thing she would take away from the week, she told me: “If someone gives me an opportunity, take it.”

At 7.30pm on Thursday 8 January, Matthew walked onto the stage at Sadler’s Wells and introduced the Curtain Raiser to the sell-out audience of 1,480 people who were there to see his production of Edward Scissorhands. I told Sylvie’s story and when I took my seat in the auditorium, the woman next to me said I’d made her cry.

The Curtain Raiser was beautiful, moving, dramatic and highly polished. As I sat and watched the young dance company – 27 dancers who just six days before had been 27 expectant young people – I too cried. They were professional; they were together; and the dance told a beautiful story of the power of bringing people together to explore and share dreams. As they came to take their seats for Edward Scissorhands they received rapturous applause … for the second time. After the performance, our young dancers partnered with the New Adventures dancers for a bucket collection, which raised an incredible £2,194.50. For me personally, the single most significant donation was given by one of the young dancers who came up to me at the end, drew a £10 note out of their pocket – literally pocket money – and handed it to me with the words: “This is so you can give other children an opportunity like this”.

If you too would like to give other vulnerable young people opportunities like this, please support us.

Nicky Goulder, Founding Chief Executive

Read the Independent on Sunday’s exclusive feature on the project.

This article is from 2015.

We’ve worked with more than 350 young carers during 2014 and are celebrating the achievements of the 200 from London with a month-long exhibition at KPMG’s headquarters in Canary Wharf, a story that both Sky News and ITV have covered.

My City ~ My Life showcases artwork by young carers that explores their identities and experiences within the urban environment. Carers from Kingston, Redbridge and Southwark worked with our professional photographers Alicia Clarke, Tracey Fahy and Adele Watts over the summer in intensive workshops that enabled them to create a portfolio of stunning, thought-provoking photographs.

Alongside the photographs is a series of sculptures produced by young carers from Merton. Working with our artist Sheridan Quigley, they painted different sides of their personality onto cardboard cut-outs which then slot together to make a 3D piece of work.

Additionally, mini-films are being shown around the KPMG foyer, whilst their longer features were showcased at our exclusive preview last week, which was attended by more than 30 young carers and family members. These are also available to view over on our YouTube site.

There are around 700,000 young carers in the UK, of whom almost 21% spend more than 50 hours a week caring for a family member with a long-term illness or disability. They regularly miss school and can face challenges when they do attend classes, 25% being bullied. Our art:space and inspired:arts programmes work with these vulnerable young people to enable them to take a break from their caring responsibilities, meet peers in a safe, friendly environment, and most importantly, have fun!

This story is from 2014.

In July 2014, we were working with Hillingdon Carers in Uxbridge, combining creative writing and visual arts in a mural project as part of our extensive inspired:arts programme for young carers.

Under the guidance of published author Carol Topolski, 16 young carers started by creating their own original story based on “Through the Wardrobe – Imagined Worlds”, a theme we chose to fire their imaginations. The theme – linking with the recent intu Uxbridge Get into Reading Campaign – draws on CS Lewis’s popular Narnia escapades, encouraging children to read and create their own stories.

For some young carers, dreaming of other worlds may provide welcome “downtime”: 27% of young carers aged 11-15 miss school regularly and 68% suffer bullying and isolation due to their caring roles. They worked in pairs, supported by 11 volunteers from intu Uxbridge and Intu Properties plc, to create pivotal characters in the story and visited outdoor spaces for inspiration to imagine a new world.

Once the final story was penned as a group, the young people worked with painter/sculptor Sheridan Quigley to visualise their ideas for a full-sized mural! With further volunteer support from intu, the final six metre piece was painted by hand on site at intu Uxbridge over two days in August.

One young carer described his experience at the end of the project:

“I feel more confident in my artwork now I’ve done this project. It helps to have a professional who you can learn from. We all worked together, listened to each other’s ideas and have made new friends. I think the mural will make a big difference to the community, perhaps contributing to stopping anti-social behavior by giving people something to talk about”.

See below for the final story concept which inspired the mural.

The Portals of The Shadow Tribe

The Lost Shadows are miserable. They’re happy enough perched in Shadowlands’ jungly trees but are missing one vital thing – a person to be attached to. After months and months of moaning and groaning they decide to do something to remedy this and create three beautiful portals: one into Astria, the second into Flipside and the third into Dandilaisydill.

Prince Sebastian lives in Astria. He’s really rather gorgeous, with his long blond hair and emerald eyes and, while he has an Aston Martin, prefers to get around on his gryphon made of fire, which impresses his subjects no end. He can’t be doing with the prince thing since he’d much rather be a hunter, so he buys a necklace from which to hang his trophies; but because he’s hopeless at killing things it hangs round his neck empty. He’s pretty hopeless at swordplay too – has to wear padded shoes because he keeps dropping the sword on his feet – so he practices every day, thinking maybe he’ll pick up some skills.

One sunny Thursday, he’s slashing away in the palace garden when he spots a triangle shape in a bush. He makes a pass and a thrust and stabs the sword through its middle, but trips over his padded shoes and falls through.

‘Woo hoo!’ say the Lost Shadows, ‘Our first!’ and the teleporter whizzes and hums. Sebastian finds himself banged up in a prison that’s made of shadow flames.

‘One down – two more to go!’ say the Shadows and go to lurk by the portal into Flipside.

Boris the Beavcoon lives there, in a land that would make you and me queasy. Everything is upside down, so the locals walk on the sky and look up to the grass but they live a very jolly life together. Boris is a bit of a geezer, and like all the other inhabitants has the head of a beaver and the body of a raccoon, but one of his front teeth is gold with a diamond winking in the middle. He likes nothing better than to create a bit of mayhem, but he always clears up after he’s made it. If he eats penguins he turns into a flying, super-dooper steel version of himself, but should he happen to eat a taco, his powers disappear.

Naturally he avoids tacos.

He’s playing hide and seek one day with friends and comes across this random door propped up against a wall.

‘Perfect!’ he says to himself and squeeeeeeeezes his burly body behind it. Unfortunately for him it’s the second portal and with a whizz and a hum, he’s in the shadow prison too.

‘Clever old us!’ say the Lost Shadows, rubbing their shadow paws, ‘Just one more to go and we’re sorted!’

In Dandilaisydill, Jessica is much given to granting wishes. Just one per person – mustn’t be greedy – and when she’s doing her job she’s dressed like a standard fairy with sparkly wings and tutu and a wand like a leaf she bought in Poundland. Actually, it’s just for show because the real magic’s in her head, but it convinces the punters, so she waves it around wildly when she’s granting things. At the end of a busy day, she retreats to her 50 room mansion at the top of a tree and likes nothing better than to party. She slips on her black leather jacket, her hip hop silk trousers and a snapback with Fairy Posse on the front – the tutu stays – and boogies under the disco ball, drinking cocktails all night.

She’s a keen gardener and one day when she’s fluttering around, spots some flowers with perky little faces. She zooms in to have a closer look and, schlurp! She’s sucked though the portal and into the prison.

Result!’ snicker the Lost Shadows and sneak over to the jail to gloat.

‘Hey!’ says Sebastian as Jessica lands on his head, ‘Who the deuce are you?’

‘I might ask you the same thing,’ says the fairy, ‘How did we end up here?’

‘Wassup?’ says Boris, ‘Like, this is waaaay uncool! We gotta get out of this place, man – this is seriously cramping my style.’

‘Oh Lord!’ says Sebastian, ‘Where’s Mummy and Daddy when you need them most? Somebody needs to think of a plan. I’m far too posh to do thinking, so you, weirdo, get your act together and get us out, will you?’

‘Watch this!’ says Boris and runs at the bars. ‘Ouch!’

‘Oh no!’ says Jessica, ‘Your nose is on fire!’ and she smothers the flames with her wings.

‘Got any penguins, dude?’ says Boris. ‘One of those and I’ll bust us out – no problem, know what I’m saying?’

‘Ah,’ says Jessica, ‘But they only seem to eat tacos here.’ Boris shrinks away into a corner.

‘But with my princely powers of observation, I notice you happen to be a fairy,’ says Sebastian.

‘Can you do a spot of magic to get us out? All that abracadabra whizzy stuff?’

‘Just one wish each,’ says Jessica.

‘Penguins!’ says Boris, ‘Gimme penguins!’ and the leaf wand waves over his head. But there’s been a slight misunderstanding. A huge pile of chocolate biscuits sits in front of the Beavcoon’s snout and, hungry though he is, it’s not going to turn him into steel.

‘Idiot!’ says Sebastian, ‘Get me out of here, fairy! Destination Astria, if you please.’ There’s a bang and a snap and a fair sprinkling of sparkles and Sebastian’s back on home ground.

He stands at the portal and observes. There are the Lost Shadows, prowling round the prison, shape-shifting and licking their lips. Any moment now, the captives are doomed, but Shadowland is suddenly plunged into darkness. For one hour a day the light disappears and of course the locals disappear too. (Being shadows and everything, they would).

Summoning his fiery gryphon, Sebastian rides to the rescue. The gryphon gobbles up the prison’s bars of flame and Boris and Jessica jump on its back.

‘Phew! Party time!’ says Jessica. ‘Everybody back to mine!’ and they swoop through the portal to Dandilaisydill and boogie the night away in her mansion. Many cocktails are consumed by them all.

In April 2014, young carers in Kingston took part in songwriting and jewellery workshops, meeting new people, learning new skills and having fun through inspired:arts!

Between 8-10 April, the participants devised songs and melodies based around the theme of identity. They had previously taken part in songwriting workshops and used these lyrics as the starting point for their music. They were even introduced to the ‘Makey Makey’ – a way of turning everyday objects into computer keys, which enabled them to create sounds by touching objects such as bananas – just like a piano! The project ended with a performance to families, friends and the Mayor of Kingston Penny Shelton and Mayoress Hilary Saw.

There are almost 250,000 children in England and Wales caring for a relative. 27% of them aged 11-15 will miss school and an overwhelming 68% experience bullying and isolation. We designed inspired:arts thanks to a grant from The Queen’s Trust to help young carers develop trust, social skills and supportive relationships, enhance self-confidence, and most importantly to have fun away from their caring responsibilities.

A participant commented after the project: “I can now sing in front of more people and feel more confident in sharing my ideas. John [our musician] was really funny and friendly and made sure that everyone was included. I’m hoping my family will be proud of what I achieved.”

On Friday 11, a group of young carers also had the chance to make beaded fabric necklaces and brooches in a one-day jewellery making workshop. This was targeted at hard to reach girls to give them a much needed break from their caring responsibilities.

Staff at Young Carers Project Kingston said about the participants: “It was lovely to see and hear them communicating. The small, nurturing environment facilitated this. They were proud of what they created and valued the time and energy the professional artist gave them.”

In March 2014, our professional jewellery designer worked with 18 young carers in Hackney to create unique button bracelets and bejewelled cards as Mother’s Day gifts, as part of our art:space project.

The children learnt basic jewellery making skills before being given the freedom to explore their creativity using a variety of materials – and of course their imaginations! Each child created something personal and memorable for a loved one and interacted with each other to build confidence and self-esteem.

One staff member commented: “I think the children will gain a sense of pride and will feel happy that they have given something to their mum that they’ve made on their own. I love all of the Create sessions and I believe the children do too!”

The children said they loved learning new skills, and one commented: “It made me feel like a person who was taken care of.”

Our Chief Executive, Nicky Goulder, said: “Making a personal gift for a loved one has to be one of the most wonderful things you can do and we are so grateful to British Land for enabling us to give young carers in Hackney this opportunity. The children have created beautiful gifts and cards for their mums, which will make them feel really special on Sunday.”

art:space is our multi-artform project for young carers in Camden, Hackney, Westminster and Southwark, funded by British Land. There are almost 250,000 children in England and Wales caring for a relative. 27% of them miss school and an overwhelming 68% experience bullying and social isolation. art:space has been designed to give young carers a break from their caring responsibilities and a chance to do something fun, imaginative and artistic with their peers in a safe, non-threatening environment. It also helps to create a network through which they can provide mutual support.

From the 18-22 September 2014, we took eight young carers to Battersea for a very special project at Mosimann’s Academy. From simmering to sizzling, flambé to frying, the young carers learnt to cook up a storm and dazzle diners in this week-long project, which culminated in a three-course VIP lunch. Thanks to our long-standing partnership with Anton Mosimann OBE, and the generosity of Mosimann’s we were able to offer young carers from Kingston, Merton and Richmond a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After being shown around the academy, the young people used three different recipes to create delicious chocolate, nut and oat cookies, which they enjoyed eating throughout the week, a fresh batch being baked daily! The next step was to plan the meal for Friday, which included learning about taste and blind taste testing a range of different ingredients including jelly, crisps and seaweed. They then searched through Anton Mosimann’s personal collection of 6,000 recipe books from around the world, collectively deciding on a menu of:

Starter: Flaked trout on top of sliced salmon, with lemon juice and herbs

Main: Baked cod, with sweet potato chips and fresh salad

Dessert: Bread and butter pudding and fruit coulis, with homemade caramel baskets and fresh ice-cream

For the next two days, the young carers worked with our professional artist – costume and set designer Anett Black – to design the style and theme of the lunch that they were creating, with “Heightened Senses” being their chosen theme. Using centre pieces, bow-ties (a staple of Anton Mosimann), napkins tie-dyed with saffron, and menus that doubled up as placemats, they used their artistic skill and creativity to design a true dining experience.

On Thursday morning, the team met with Mosimann chef Miranda for a visit to Borough Market to enjoy a cheese tasting at Neal’s Yard Dairy and then pick high quality, fresh ingredients. The second half of the day involved technical training on dressing a table and service skills. Carrying multiple plates up three flights of steps is not easy!

On Friday, the young carers cooked the meal before presenting their restaurant experience to guests including Mark Mosimann, our Chief Executive Nicky Goulder, funders from British Land and The Queen’s Trust, and our newest Patron, concert pianist Nicholas McCarthy. Each course was introduced by the young carers, who were presented with Certificates of Achievement at the end before mingling with the guests over coffee. One of the guests wrote afterwards: “Thanks so much for inviting me to Friday’s event. It was really special and I enjoyed every minute! I thought the group was amazing, and I’m feeling hungry just thinking about the wonderful meal.“

We spoke to some of the young carers after the lunch and this is what they had to say:

“I feel very proud of what I have achieved and have loved the whole experience. I would definitely do it again!”

“I felt proud of the comments from the guests who seemed to be impressed. My family would be proud of me”.

Sean (not his real name) was one of the young carers who took part.

“I found out about this project through my support worker and thought it would be a good idea to come along, seeing as I love to cook! My mum usually does the main cooking at home but I often make dishes like lasagne and spaghetti bolognaise for her and my three younger brothers. I have an extended family and I am always cooking for them, friends and even people I’ve met on this project!

“Although I care for my mum, I always think she is the one who cares for me! She is supportive of me and my decisions and one of those is hopefully to do a cooking course at college. I hope one day in the future to be able to run my own restaurant which serves a variety of food from around the world!

“I learnt a lot about cooking compared to what I knew before so I really think that this will help me out in my chosen career path. The other carers on the project are all from different areas but we’re only a short train ride away from each other so hopefully we will meet up. We’ve been working in teams which helped us get to know each other.

“I was so excited about putting on the final meal, getting in the kitchen and producing something. Projects like this get me out of my house and out of the area I live in which is refreshing. I get bored easily but I didn’t find that in this project.”

This piece is from 2014.