Swan Highlights

What a wonderful time we had at the Community Fete at George Street Park with the lovely team from Sunnyside Church Berkhamsted. We were so blessed to be part of this lovely event, with lots of arts and crafts, temporary tattoos and plants for sale. Lots of plants were sold, many tattoos were applied and it was lovely to see so many people come along and enjoy the afternoon. A huge thank you to everyone involved in making the day so enjoyable, including our special guests. An

We would like to thank our local Berkhamsted police officers for visiting us at The Swan Youth Project. 🚓👮‍♂️ Our young people had a fantastic time exploring the police car, asking lots of questions and discussing important ways to keep themselves and others safe. Thank you to the officers for taking the time to talk with our young people, helping to build positive relationships and making it such an enjoyable and informative visit for everyone involved.

A HUGE thank you to the wonderful Vicki, Sandra and the team at COOK for their generous donation of meals to The Swan Youth Project. We are so very grateful for this. As part of our mission, we believe that no child should go hungry, and having this support means so much to us and our young people. We are so blessed to have such amazing support from our local community. Community helping community. ❤️

We had a wonderful time at the Eco Fair at The Civic Centre with Berkhamsted Town Council, selling pre-loved clothes. It was such a great event, and incredible to see so many people contributing to keeping our planet healthy. 🌍💚 On the other hand, my modelling was not quite up there with Gucci… but you can but try! 😄 A lovely day and great to be part of it.

A huge thank you to QCS for hosting such a wonderful fundraising event for us at The Swan Youth Project as part of their World Cultural Day celebration. 💙 Their staff went above and beyond, each cooking their own amazing dishes for us to taste and vote on — and wow, the competition was fierce! 🍽️👏 The effort, generosity and community spirit shown throughout the evening meant so much to us. At The Swan Youth Project, we are passionate about promoting acceptance, inclusion a

We were lucky to have some lovely volunteers join us at The Swan Youth Project to make tote bags and pencil cases with our young people. ✨ As it was Mental Health Awareness Week, we wanted to do an activity that encouraged our young people to step away from their phones and everyday stresses for a while, and instead focus on creativity, connection and wellbeing. 💚 It was amazing to see how creative everyone got, and we were completely blown away by some of the designs and wo

A huge thank you to the then Mayor of Dacorum, Catherine McArevey, for visiting The Swan Youth Project and taking part in our “Hot Seat” session with young people. It was a really inspiring afternoon, full of thoughtful questions, honest conversations and lots of laughter. Our young people asked questions about things that matter to them, including safe spaces to spend time with friends, protecting the environment, mental wellbeing and how they can make their voices heard in

What a wonderful evening at Berkhamsted Town Hall celebrating one of our Swan members, Alexi, who received the Junior Rotary Award. Alexi was recognised for his support of young people in the community, his resilience and his commitment to helping others. In a world where young people are surrounded by so many different influences, we are incredibly proud to call Alexi one of our own role models. I have had the privilege of working with him since his primary school days and w

Our kitchen turned into a little piece of Italy when Massimo joined us for a cooking session with our Swan members. It wasn't just about cooking. There was lots of sharing, laughing and learning the small secrets that can make a big difference when making a good pasta dish. Together, we cooked pasta and made three different sauces: olive oil and garlic, tomato, and broccoli with a few anchovies, which surprised everyone! The best reaction came from one young person who doesn'

It’s already the second week since we reopened, and we are absolutely loving our refreshed centre! Every day, we hear the most wonderful feedback from our members and our partners at Mencap . It’s incredible to see the reaction — everyone who walks in immediately notices how much better everything feels. It has truly become such a lovely, bright, and welcoming place to be. A huge thank you once again to Peabody Community Foundation and Lux Property Services for the incredib

The doors are open, and it feels amazing to be back! We reopened today, returning to our usual hours: Monday to Friday, 3:30pm – 6:00pm. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces. The most common reaction from our young people? “It looks so clean!” The centre feels much fresher and brighter, and the new colours have been a huge hit with everyone. A massive thank you again to Peabody Community Foundation and Lux Property Services for such a fantastic job. Seeing the me

Take a look at these changes! The centre is looking incredible, and we simply cannot wait for you to see it for yourselves. This transformation has been made possible thanks to the amazing support from Lux Property Services , Peabody Community Foundation , and Connect Property Services . Thank you for helping us create such a bright and welcoming space for our young people. We’ve really missed the noise and laughter in these rooms, and we are now busy getting everything ready

Wednesday was such a special day for all of us at The Swan Youth Centre . We were absolutely thrilled to welcome our Mayor, Councillor Catherine McArevey , to see our amazing new renovations and officially cut the ribbon ahead of our grand opening. It was a lovely opportunity to show her around, chat about our transformation, and share more about the positive difference our work makes in the lives of young people. We are so grateful she took the time to listen and learn more

Even while our centre was closed for renovations, the heart of the swan youth project kept beating! We didn’t want to miss our weekly catch-ups with our members, so we took our meetings on the road. We are so incredibly grateful to Waitrose Berkhamsted for kindly opening their café doors to us. They hosted two of our meetings, providing a warm space, hot drinks, and delicious treats for everyone. It was so lovely to see everyone, catch up, and spend time together in such a

We had a truly wonderful Christmas party at the centre! The Swan was absolutely buzzing — full of young people, music, games, and that special festive feeling that makes this time of year so magic. A massive thank you to our "angel" Maggie Pal and the team at Waitrose Berkhamsted for their incredibly generous food donation. The spread was fantastic and very much enjoyed by everyone! We were also so happy to have Sandra join us, and we are deeply grateful to all our volunteers

Today marked our final Life Skills session of the Autumn Term at Ashlyns School , and we made sure to finish on a high note! To celebrate everything the group has achieved over the past few months, we spent the afternoon baking together. The kitchen was full of Christmas songs, delicious smells, and a really wonderful atmosphere as we made biscuits and shared some festive cheer. It has been a privilege working with this group throughout the term as part of our Life Skills