Chichester charity have their first members meeting

The charity in the heart of the city runs a number of youth groups catering for children and young adults with varying degrees of difficulties. Chris Williams, who heads up the Youth Team with Samantha Holmes, said: "The Chichester Boys Club has spent the majority of 2023 with groups who have different needs."We have a young adult autism group up to 25-year-olds, we have a senior youth club, a junior youth club, a holiday club and home educated children."We have challenged the young autistic group and assisted them with the necessary life skills to help their independence, such as using public transport, and we noticed a steep rise in their confidence."They were therefore able to comfortably take part in our large Halloween party and become a focal point of the group. It was incredible to see their progress and a wonderful party."We have some really challenged kids. We are now linked in with UK Harvest, so we run a homework club and provide hot meals for the children and create food parcels for the parents that need them."We have children with varying needs, social services, interventions, emergency housing, children in care, and they all came together under one roof with staff, parents and volunteers and we all shared the same amazing experience."Williams says the club is "going from strength to strength" and "has seen a rapid increase in children attending" as he underlined the need for extra help to keep up their excellent progress.He added: "It is due to the economic climate and we get signposted by lots of schools, as we offer specialty care."We run a therapeutic approach and show how we can bring all these people together who would never normally associate with each other."In order to keep our staff and increase our capacity for care, we are always looking for funding."We do an annual fundraiser where older children in the senior youth club do a shoe shine at Goodwood Revival under the umbrella of Angela Blackwell, who has been associated with the Boys Clubs for many years as a youth worker, and now a trustee."