When Kingsbridge Twinning Association recently wound down its operations it wished to donate the remaining funds in its bank account at £780 to a local cause which benefitted young people.

A few conversations later and up stepped the Family Advice Support Team’s (FAST) Youth Club which Councillor Julia Wingate has chosen for her Town Mayor’s Charity.

Members of the Twinning Association and Julia were invited to the Youth Club, based at Horizons, 110 Fore Street, to check out first hand the facilities and what goes on.

They were very impressed.

There is more good news because funds collected from the World’s Smallest Nightclub (aka the red telephone box outside the Police Station) has pushed the Mayor’s Charity balance to just over £1,000 which will be major boost for the Youth Club.

Kingsbridge has been twinned with Isigny-sur-Mer in France and Weilerbach in Germany since 1990 and many visits have been organised over the years.

Visits to Isigny stopped in 2016 and the Weilerbach liaison has recently ended however, the formal twining agreements remain in place.

Many personal friendships have been made over the years and future visits are likely to take place on a personal basis.

FAST is a not-for-profit organisation (Community Interest Company/CIC) that delivers contracted enabling and support for children, young people and families.

All profits are used for a community purpose which are running Horizons as a community hub and delivering seven hours of youth work every week during term time.

The Youth Club objectives are to provide a safe, welcoming and enriching space for all young people of secondary school age with opportunities to get support, learning and development. FAST’s aim is to be inclusive and to ensure that all young people feel that they are included and matter.

The greatly appreciated donation from the Kingsbridge Twinning Association will be specifically used to fund this summer's holiday youth club sessions during August.

Family Advice Support Team (FAST) CIC is a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee, founded by a small team of professionals with over 30 years of specialist experience between them, offering bespoke support to families (both parents and children, including those with disabilities) through a variety of interventions as well as one-to-one and group work across the the South Hams, Teignbridge and Torbay areas.

Sharing skills with managing family challenges, including behaviour support, routines, respite and providing social opportunities for families.

Families accessing FAST may have someone in their family with a disability, or be a parent/carer who is struggling to manage their child's behaviour or their ability to engage and interact with family members or others outside of their family.

For a variety of reasons families may be facing family breakdown, domestic violence, bereavement, unemployment, isolation, housing issues, poverty, mental health or a combination of these issues.

FAST offers a unique 'one-stop-shop' for all family support; for both parents and children, mainstream and those with a disability.

They offer bespoke support packages tailored to family's individual needs, delivered across a wide range of skills by their qualified and experienced team.

Julie Hinder, lead youth worker can be contacted at [email protected]