We love working with Your Back Yard, they have given our community incredible opportunities at the centre. The feedback we have from class participants is overwhelmingly positive, and we are so grateful the kids boxercise class is coming back next year thanks to support from YBY. It is one of the most popular activities the centre has! We love working with YBY as they are very flexible and eager to work with the community and collaborate with exciting organisations, and they listen to the needs of the local community first. Basically you are all legends and I feel so lucky to work with you!
YBY were able to organise digital sessions with some of our residents. Nothing was too much trouble for Victoria Kyra Lizzie and Olivia and the team. They came and did a series of sessions and worked individually with some of our residents. Everyone that took part was very happy with the sessions and what they got out of them. Their support was fantastic during this time they are a great bunch of people doing a fantastic job in the community
love my classes every week, helps me relax and feel centred thank you it is a very nice space and a kind teacher great really enjoyed the slow calming pace of the class these sessions help me feel warm and relaxed very relaxed, put at ease and well engaged had a fab session the yoga instructor was brilliant with clear instructions
very good sessions, the class is good for the kids in the local community the classes are amazing and make me feel happy can we do boxing every day my son loves the session, he loves coming a very focused yet relaxing environment the sessions have been amazing and my kids have built so much confidence!
We have really enjoyed the sessions with you and Lizzie. We just about knew the basics, but now we can send photos to friends and relations. Also, we can use apps to catch up on programmes we missed on TV. We can even book doctors appointments and use Qr Codes for COVID passes! Each person needed different things and Your Back Yard were very accommodating, making sure we were each learning understanding and improving. Thank you for your time and patience.
I loved having the opportunity of working with Your Back Yard, offering Yoga For All classes from Woodhouse Community Centre & Chair Yoga at Wortley Community Centre. YBY are friendly & professional & I look forward to working with them again!
I must say what a pleasure it has been to working with YBY for the last year, yep not the most normal of years however you guys have done some phenomenal work and its always been a joy to partner with you. Youve permanently been professional, friendly and always wanting to do the right thing for people, well done from me.
Working with Your Back Yard has been a really good experience for BEA and OWLS. Its a partnership. A real partnership. We talk, we throw ideas around, we mix and combine our areas of knowledge and interest, and thats how we have kept improving the projects were working on together. The Your Back Yard team are very open to new ways of working, they listen, and act on it. We are really happy with the partnership project that has created Walking Football games for older people in West Leeds and North West Leeds, its been exciting and invigorating to see the players getting a lot out of the sessions, but critically, the process has been really good between us, and we are learning together all the time.
Regarding the Bramley Fall Park Healthy Living Park project: It was great to see Bramley Fall Park so busy on a lovely summers day, with a range of activities on offer. Lots of fun was had by all, a great family day out, with something for everyone. Days like these are fantastic, bringing the community together and showing what great places parks are. Lots of new friendships were formed and the event hopefully inspired people to enjoy the parks even more. The young children seemed thoroughly engaged in the Gruffalo story time, the woodland setting made the story much more exciting for everybody and will have encouraged more reading and introduced an stimulating environment close to home bedtime stories will never be the same again!
The School of Sociology and Social Policy has been working with Your Back Yard for four years. Your Back Yard has provided our students with opportunities to use and develop a wide range of research and employability skills undertaking projects in the community. This has been really advantageous for our students who have used the experience to enable them to secure employment once they have graduated by allowing them to apply the conceptual knowledge they gain in their degree programmes to real life situations. A number of our students have continued to work with Your Back Yard following completion of their studies. Our School hopes to continue to work with the organisation in the future.
Your Back Yard came in to help local people and elected members to refresh and renew a Friend of group that had, over time, become inactive . We invested some ward money into getting Your Back Yard to draw up a plan to involve local people in the revival and renewal of the Friends of Wibsey Park group, by allowing them to bring forward their ideas. We secured new volunteers, a new vision, and a sense of local ownership. Your Back Yard were then asked to develop a new committee, invest money we had gained, and then enter bids for events (which succeeded!). A spectacularly successful bid came off, and we now have a significant sum of money to invest in the park. We also have a renewed body of volunteers, and a viable committee capable of seeking further funding.
We engaged Your Back Yard to assist us with reviewing our management and funding options for our local park, Your Back Yard did an excellent job of surveying our community and local schools and then analysing the data to produce some really useful insights that have enabled us to progress some key projects in the park. I would happily recommend Your Back Yard and engage them in the future.
I worked with Your Back Yard (YBY) on a Big Potential funded project that focused on partnering up with the Cardigan Centre in Leeds to further community regeneration. This involved developing a grassroots partnership to improve health and wellbeing. YBY is an innovative social enterprise undertaking excellent work to revitalise local neighbourhoods. They have significant expertise in grassroots community development across a range of aspects environment/use of green space, health, employment etc. They adopt an asset-based approach that recognises and builds on local communities strengths and capabilities. They are passionate about their work and committed to the pursuit of excellence in everything they do.
Your Back Yard piloting the summer programme really showed how well-used the park could be over summer, to the benefit of people of all ages, especially children and families who might be struggling to find things they can afford for children to do during holidays. The work helped forge relationships that will make it so much easier for the Friends of Wibsey Park to sustain a programme of activities this summer, and hopefully into the future.
It was great fun day with Your Back Yard, and we enjoyed doing different activities in the park with our children. It gave us the opportunity to spend some quality time together, and have fun at the same time. All the activities were well planned and were very interactive.
I just wanted to say a personal thanks for all your help with the Our Place application for Byker Old Town. We just got notification we were successful with our recent bid. Couldnt have done it without you so thank you very much!
Tony has been an invaluable source of advice and energy in consulting with the community in Aberford as an integral part of developing our Master Plan. The work he has undertaken has meant we have been able to reach out to the whole community adults, children, young people, businesses and community groups in ways we simply do not have the skills to do ourselves.
The team worked collaboratively with residents and key partners to identify their issues and find solutions to ASB in East Herringthorpe. The workshops were facilitated to an excellent standard and the team made the local residents who attended feel very welcome. I would definitely work with them in the future and would highly recommend them!
Tony worked diligently in Thurrock to ensure that we got a number of small capital schemes off the ground for local young people. He worked at ease with different age groups and had a good approach with young people in particular. Highly recommended.
Robin provided excellent facilitation that engaged everyone in agreeing a vision for the future of Northern Architecture. He kept things moving and ensured that we ended up with a clear action plan for our next steps.
Tony facilitated a lively debate with residents in relation to planning the projects, he displayed a sound knowledge of local issues and kept the group focussed and engaged throughout. The chosen projects will deliver a real solution to the problems of anti-social behaviour in the area.
Robins input and support has been invaluable in getting us to this stage. We now have a sound business plan and a strong Lottery application, which we could not have achieved without his practical help and advice.
It was lovely to work with Your Back Yard. They were quickly able to grasp what we needed for this project and provided some very useful feedback on our proposals as well as helpful suggestions for moving forward. The project was delivered in tight timescales and the presentation and final report were well received.
Robin and the team provided a detailed and robust assessment of the options for our church building, and provided a range of interesting proposals. They have given us a lot of food for thought.