News and Events

 

Sussex Central YMCA held a celebration event on 23rd November in line with Brighton & Hove City Council's Supported Housing month. The event, held at Lansworth House, one of the YMCA’s housing projects, showcased some of the amazing work undertaken by residents throughout the year.

 

Guests enjoying the Lansworth House celebration event

Visitors included neighbours, staff of partner agencies, Council Housing Managers, local councillors and the Mayor. The residents’ creative work was exhibited and included poems, paintings and illustrations depicting stories of their lives and how the YMCA have helped them turn things around.

Visitors enjoyed a great selection of food and drinks, including a range of homemade West Indian delights, lasagne cooked by residents and a BBQ. In addition to all this, delicious free pizzas were donated by the local takeaway La Cucina.

Sussex Central YMCA Chief Executive David Standing and the Mayor with one of the residentsThe young people got the opportunity to talk to substance misuse and sexual health workers and also plan their move on into more independent accommodation. The night was a huge success and staff and residents genuinely felt that they celebrated the positive work of the YMCA over the last year. Next year’s event will be bigger and better, although some have been worried that we can't improve upon this year… nothing like a good challenge!

Three friends are about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime to raise much needed funds for Sussex Central YMCA.

In October Simon and Sarah Colquhoun along with their friend Glenn Stubbs will be racing motorised rickshaws (Tuk Tuks) across Southeast Asia.

 

Simon said “About a year ago, we were inspired to consider our life goals ... a light bulb moment occurred and thus we came to two significant conclusions that life is too short and that life will simply drift on by... work, sleep, work, pub, sleep, hangover, work, sleep. Before you know it, you are knackered and can't remember what you did last month. We are very fortunate with our lives, friends and family and we can do more for others. If we always look inward then we never realise that others are less fortunate. They need our help.” 

In January Sarah and Simon raced motorised rickshaws (tuk tuks) across the amazing landscape of India. With the help of friends, family and colleagues, they raised over £2000 for charity. The adventure didn’t come without it’s challenges which included accidents, hospital visits and rickshaws set on fire.

Now with the desire to even more, they are off again in October to undertake a challenge that has never been done before: trying to get tuk-tuks from Jakarta in Indonesia, through Sumatra and Malaysia, to Bangkok in Thailand.

This means they will have to brave jungles, shipping across pirate infested seas, bad roads, borders and of course, nutty traffic.

As well as being an experience that they will remember forever they are more importantly, raising money for those who are less fortunate than themselves and for causes that impact on the world around them. Monies raised will go towards three charities:

The official race charity is Birdlife international who do amazing work in the jungles of Sumatra, helping to stop the destruction of the forests and the extinction of the native wildlife. www.birdlife.org/

They are also fundraising for two local charities, Sussex Central YMCA’s Crawley Foyer and Crawley Open House. These charities operate a wide range of services that support and help the less fortunate. Services include those for young people, families and the homeless: www.sussexcentralymca.org.uk/crawleyfoyer
www.crawleyopenhouse.co.uk/

To sponsor Simon, Sarah and Glenn visit their JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/teams/tallyho-whatwhat

You can also read about their India adventure and follow them at their website and blog - www.teamtallyho.co.uk