Wildside Activity Centre

Wildside Activity Centre is a small charity offering outdoor and nature related activities for health, fun and learning. Our unique canalside oasis in the heart of Wolverhampton is a welcoming place for everyone. In many different ways, we get people outdoors and learning about nature. All ages, all abilities – we reconnect people with nature – from toddlers to the elderly.

The James Beattie Trust has given us great encouragement and flexible help. Their award this year is supporting our work with long-term unemployed people which takes volunteers to do outdoor conservation work such as canal bank renovation, building a pond for a school or creating a sensory garden for a residential home.

Many of these volunteers have faced multiple challenges such as substance misuse or learning difficulties and for most of them, unemployment has shattered their confidence. We work with them to re-build confidence, social skills, work readiness and practical vocational skills and are seeing an increase in the numbers now successfully entering work.

Thank you so much.

At Circus Starr, we’re on a mission to be the UK’s most inclusive circus. Established for the benefit of local communities, Circus Starr is an innovative, not-for-profit social enterprise who is passionate about the promotion and accessibility of live performance to an audience frequently excluded from the arts and cultural opportunities. Our relaxed and inclusive performances are designed to embrace the whole family so that they can experience and be inspired by an art form that has traditionally broken down boundaries and brought together communities in unexpected ways.

Because of the support of The James Beattie Trust we are able to be able to bring a celebration of circus to those who struggle socially and give them the chance to overcome fears, to explore live performance and try new adventures.

“My daughter’s additional needs puts strain on us all. Her siblings struggle with the limitations her needs put on us. Having fun as a family recharges us and gives us lighter moments and happy memories.

Photographs by Paul Empsom

Judith Halle

Grants and Trusts Manager
For and on behalf of Circus Starr

T:  01260 288690

E:  judith.halle@circus-starr.org.uk

W: www.circus-starr.org.uk

Our multi-disciplinary team approach to the 18 to 25s provides professional, empowering support to two houses in the Black Country.  Understanding the impact of those coming from the care system directly, whilst others are simply rejected by family and friends or are ex-offenders.

Empowerment – Paid professional Empowerment Officers help keep residents focused on maintaining their residency, accessing public funds and obtaining employment, where this applies.

Relationships – Trained volunteer ‘friends with a purpose’ journey through life with the residents on a weekly basis.

Family – Partner churches available and open to welcome those on the fringes of society, bringing a sense of family by adopting those who society has socially excluded.

The funds provided by The James Beattie Trust will benefit Hope into Action:Black Country enormously, as we firstly don’t pass on the charity’s costs of support to the tenants, so that we can charge rents low enough to encourage the transition from benefits to paid employment.

The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain is a charity run and managed by Retired and Serving Police Officers whose mission is to ‘inspire young people to lead healthy lifestyles, make the most of their potential and become good, responsible citizens’.

Through the incredible generosity of the James Beattie Charitable Trust we were able to provide resources to over 450 young people aged between 9-11 years old across primary schools in Wolverhampton, educating the young people on the risk factors associated with; involvement or becoming a victim of crime, anti-social behaviour, promote responsible citizenship values, increase self-esteem and confidence to help maximise personal potential.