Tayler

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When we run our holiday clubs, we start by asking the young attendees to agree their own rules. The one thing that is always on the list is “no bullying”. 

This summer our rules also included “be kind”, “be polite”, “listen to each other”, “no name calling”, “no offensive language”, and of course, “have fun”. These rules all help to promote a culture of inclusion and friendliness and create a club that young people want to come back to day after day. 

Make (Good) Trouble club rules

This year, Make (Good) Trouble joined the Anti Bullying Alliance. We want to help raise awareness of the issues around bullying. Did you know that 25% of school pupils have been bullied “a lot of always” (ABA research, 2016)? Did you know that bullying can have long-lasting effects, right into adulthood? And that those at risk of being targeted are more likely to be looked after children; registered as SEN; LGBTQ+; those of a different faith; children on free school meals; or those with a disability. 

So we have signed up to the alliance which:

  • believes bullying in any form is wrong and should not be tolerated, and that any environment that encourages bullying, or shows indifference to prejudice and discrimination is unacceptable;
  • believes bullying is a behaviour choice and that anyone can be encouraged to change their behaviour;
  • believes all children and young people have intrinsic value and worth and we embrace their uniqueness and autonomy;
  • respects difference and welcome diversity in our children, young people and in society in general, and believe our work should be inclusive of all;
  • believes children and young people should have the right to feel safe, secure and valued, and that creating a safe environment and dealing with bullying is our shared responsibility;
  • believes children and young people should actively participate in decisions that affect them and should be supported in taking responsibility for their choices and subsequent actions;
  • supports a range of positive strategies to deal with bullying and actively challenge the use of humiliation, fear,  ridicule and other similar approaches in an effort to reduce bullying;
  • works within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Articles 14 and 28); and
  • believes that people should be treated with respect and courtesy.

The Anti Bullying Alliance has loads of great free training and resources on their website. We hope you’ll be moved to join the alliance. 

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As part of our programme of parent and carer get-togethers – our amazing beach walks – we spoke to psychotherapist Donna Peters-Lamb about teen mental health, wellbeing and tips for dealing with:

  • school stress
  • anxiety and exam stress – including how to speak to your teenager and the school about anxiety
  • the teenage brain – when teens seem like they just don’t care!
  • how to manage conversations around their mental health
  • breathing techniques for de-stressing
  • sleep and creating a better sleep routine
  • setting boundaries and expectations – around what we expect as parents, and what our teenagers expect
  • how to look after ourselves
  • and the benefits of having ‘worry time’.

It’s a fascinating discussion, so grab a cuppa and dive in!

This project has been supported by the Sussex Care Partnership, Brighton & Hove City Council

Brighton & Hove City Council logo

For further help & advice

If you need further help or advice, check our Help pages – they cover lots of different topics. (If we’ve missed something, let us know!)

Find out more about Donna at Make Sense Psychotherapy

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We’re super excited to be running our summer club again this July/August as part of the East Sussex Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

Our clubs are planned and run by young people, alongside our experienced team. We have a range of activities planned centred around audio recording and photography. We have trips planned around the East Sussex countryside and seaside. We will go on nature walks and try out taster sessions for paddle-boarding.

Attendees will have the chance to document their experiences at the club. They will gain skills as roving reporters, with the sound footage edited to create our very first HAF podcast! 

We will host safe outdoor cooking sessions (weather permitting), such as BBQs with healthy homemade menus designed by and for the children. 

At The Joff, Peacehaven.

The club will run from 11am to 4pm, Monday to Thursday, from 25 July to 4 August.

Our two-week summer club is free to young people in receipt of benefits-related free school meals (FSM).

This project will give children the opportunity to make good memories, during one of the most uncertain times in recent history, as well as teaching them valuable transferable skills in media production, confidence, team building and hands on learning.

👉 Places are limited, so register today for your free place.

Feedback for Make (Good) Trouble HAF Clubs:

⭐️ “I’m gonna miss everyone a lot, including the grown upsI” Attendee feedback, Summer 2021

⭐️ “I’ve been coming for the whole summer (4 weeks), I was meant to go on holiday but decided to stay at the club instead.” Attendee feedback, Summer 2021

⭐️ “He came home happy every day and I can’t thank you enough for that.” Parentfeedback, Summer 2021

⭐️ “The fact that she’s had an opportunity to try [photography] out for herself and has just loved it is really, really great, because it could be more than a hobby for her.”  Parent feedback, Summer 2021

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I’ve followed women’s football for the past decade. Ten years ago, if I couldn’t make it to a match in the top flight of women’s football, I’d have to resort to following the action on Twitter, looking for anyone who was tweeting ball-by-ball coverage (hello Girls on the Ball, @Stillberto!). There was no TV coverage, no FA Player streaming matches. There was little to no coverage in the national press, and scant information about players, managers, tactics, strategies – all the things that make following the game interesting and exciting. But times are changing.  

It really feels as if we have reached a tipping point. After a 50-year ban by the FA between 1921 and 1971 (their view was that football was “quite unsuitable for females”), with women resorting to forming their own leagues and tournaments, playing in boys’ teams in boy’s or men’s kits, the tide has turned.

Over 1 billion people tuned in to watch the 2019 Women’s World Cup and for the first time England’s women had their own bespoke kit. In April 2022, 91,648 fans filled Camp Nou to see Barcelona Women take on VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-final. And with the Women’s Euros about to kick off in July, we’re going to see an explosion of coverage (at last!) of the women’s game. 

🎧Listen to our Goal Power podcasts 👇

This summer, get yourself down to Brighton Museum. You’ll be treated to an amazing exhibition, Goal Power! Women’s Football 1894-2022,  dedicated to the unstoppable rise of women’s football over the last 100 plus years. They have a fantastic array of memorabilia, from the uncomfortable-looking boots worn by munitions worker Fanny Williams in 1921, to Brighton General Post Office team programmes, shirts and trophies from the 1960s and ‘70s, and (for the first two weeks) the 2022 Women’s Super League trophy. The exhibition runs to 25 September 2022.

You’ll also see a few QR codes that link to some fascinating interviews that Make (Good) Trouble helped to create…

Take your headphones to the Goal Power! exhibition at Brighton Museum and hear stories from the likes of referee Georgia Rooney about her part in the beautiful game

In April, Make (Good) Trouble worked alongside photographic artist and artist facilitator Lindsey Smith, to help seven young players, aged between 12 and 14, interview legends of the game, and those working in and playing football today. The resulting podcast series gives us real insights into what it was like to be a player in the 1960s and ‘70s, and how that is changing for those involved in the game today. 

The interviews

A fascinating conversation between young female footballers from Sussex

⚽️ Listen to the young players’ conversation (10 minutes)

Marta, Olivia, Bo, Lili, Rosa, Caitlin and Verity talk about their experiences getting into the game, their aspirations and how they deal with sexism. 

Young players learning how to use audio equipment and discussing what football means to them.

Eileen Bourne started playing football in the 1960s for Brighton GPO team and was part of starting up a local league and national women’s leagues. 

⚽️ Hear Bo and Rosa’s interview with Eileen Bourne (7 minutes)

“My dream was that I would be playing in a cup final at Wembley… That was a dream that was never going to come true, but now it’s different. Girls have played at Wembley.”

Petra Landers, German international player was part of the team that won the Euros in 1989. The German FA infamously presented their triumphant team with a coffee set for winning the trophy. Today Petra is a volunteer coach and mentor working with girls in Ghana.

⚽️ Hear Caitlin and Lili’s interview with Petra Landers (7 minutes)

“I’m going into the communities [in Ghana]. I will have football camps, maybe three or four days… My friend and me, we are going through the communities by motorcycle and this will be a brilliant adventure…. I try to find sponsors and even if I don’t find them I will do it. It’s my passion, my goal, my everything.”

Georgia Rooney, a professional referee and trainer. Inspired by seeing female referees at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, she Googled “how to become a referee”. Her ambition is to referee WSL and international matches. 

⚽️ Hear Marta and Olivia’s interview with Georgia Rooney (6 minutes)

“I always wonder because I was good when I was little, if there was anyone around who was focused on women and girls football and they’d have seen me play and thought she could go on a team or might have just fostered my interest a little bit and helped me go somewhere with it. I just wonder what a difference that would have made because no one paid any attention because no one thought that football was really for girls.”

Lewes FC’s Rhian Cleverly, Karen Dobres and Ellie Ramsauer

⚽️ Hear Bo, Marta, Caitlin, Rosa and Olivia’s interviews with Rhian, Ellie and Karen from Lewes FC

Rhian Cleverly, captain of Lewes FC Women and former Welsh international. She is proud to be playing for “the best team in the world”, the first, and currently only, professional or semi-professional club in the world that splits its resources equally between its men’s and women’s teams. 

“It’s given me the best experiences and friendships I’ve ever had in my life. There’s been tough times, but I think it’s also prepared me, like being released [from a contract] in France – I lost my home, I had a boyfriend at the time, so we broke up, I had lost my car, lost my job, and I was like, oh, what do I do now? So now I think little things like being injured and having surgery, it’s not as big a deal…  it’s prepared me for other things in normal life. So, yeah, I would say if you enjoy it and it makes your heart pump and it makes you smile, then definitely go for it because you won’t regret it.”

Ellie Ramsauer, coach for the under 14s development pathway at Lewes FC (since May 2022, Manager of Saltdean Women’s Development Side), has played football since she was 6. She works in the evenings and at weekends alongside a full-time job. 

“I think boys are more pushed and girls are more excluded. I mean, if you really want to, you can get into it, but there’s not the same encouragement as there is for boys… I think when I was younger, there weren’t many girls teams, not many girls in boys teams either. When I went to watch Arsenal women, they all had men’s hand-me-down kits. I don’t think they were paid either. They never played in big stadiums. Yes, I think respect for the game has grown exponentially.”

Karen Dobres, elected co-director at Lewes FC, the first (and currently only) football team to share its resources equally between its men’s and women’s teams. She is involved with fan and community engagement and financial sustainability. She is passionate about raising the profile of the club and promoting its ethos and practice of equality. 

“I think we’re a long way off equality, but I think that’s simply down to decisions in board rooms. So it’s not like there’s a lot to overcome, really, because we [at Lewes FC] had a lot to overcome when we introduced equality, but everyone seems to have come round to it. Now the sponsors are on board, right? And our men’s team have definitely not suffered. They’ve also been promoted. It’s an important thing to say.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce3lz3rIL0o/

👏 Take a look at Lewes FC and see the brilliant work they’re doing to promote equality.

♥️ This project was made possible with the support of the Lottery Heritage Fund.