We’ve had two purchase bids to secure the Ramsgate Youth Centre building for youth services rejected by Kent County Council (KCC), as officers declare their intention to sell the plot at commercial market. This will result in the loss of the last remaining dedicated youth centre in Thanet.

Securing the building for community use is crucial to safeguarding essential support for Thanet’s young people amid an unprecedented socio-economic and mental health crisis. This decision is hugely disappointing, as our well-developed and sustainable vision for a Youth-led Community Centre presents a viable solution to the Council’s budget challenges. It would save this long-standing youth space for the generations of now and the future

We need your help!

Please help us persuade KCC to STOP the commercial sale of Ramsgate Youth Centre.

Raise your voice to block the sale at commercial market by writing to your local KCC Member. If enough people speak out, KCC will have to listen.

Step 1 – WritE to your local KCC Member requesting the building is not put on the commercial market when they have an offer from a community organisation within the Asset of Community Value (ACV) moratorium period.
Find your local KCC Member here.

Step 2 – Spread the word – share our request on your social media channels, tell your friends, colleagues and community groups. Every voice counts (and is appreciated).

Over 1,000 young people attend Pie annually on average with participants describing the youth centre as a “safe haven”, their “second home” and a place to “make a fresh start”, “make friends” and “find freedom”. Without this space, our current provision of positive and diversionary activities and creative opportunities for young people will significantly decrease or stop, as we will be made to find alternative premises.

How we’ve arrived here

In September 2024, KCC put Ramsgate Youth Centre, Pie’s home, up for disposal, in a bid to balance its budget, just six months after cutting the charity’s commissioned youth services funding. The building is the last dedicated youth centre in the local area, following the transformation of the former Quarterdeck Youth Hub in Margate into a Family Hub which focuses on Early Years provision.

Pie immediately registered an interest in purchasing the building, which has had ACV status since 2022. This kick-started a six-month ‘moratorium period’ for the charity to prepare a proposal and raise funds before the owner (KCC) can agree to a sale.

Ramsgate Youth Centre is listed as an ACV because of the benefits it provides to the social interests of the local community. The Centre ensures:

A dedicated safe space outside of education for young people to learn, build confidence, make friends, and connect with others in person.

A place where young people can take part in music, creative and social opportunities, receive counselling and 1-2-1 mental health support.

Young people have access to face-to-face support from trained youth workers, creating a welcoming place to go.

A message from our CEO Zoë

KCC has indicated their intention to wait out the ACV moratorium period so they can put the building up for commercial sale, raising concerns about potential redevelopment that could result in the loss of our facilities. Without intervention, the community risks losing a vital youth centre that has served young people since 1969 and leaving Pie without a dedicated base.

We need our local community’s urgent support to advocate for the preservation of Ramsgate Youth Centre for future generations. If enough people speak out, KCC will have to listen.”

A message from East Thanet MP Polly Billington

The urgent need

24% of young people say they do not have a safe space where they feel they belong (Onside report 2023)– a side effect of the 73% cut to youth services over the last decade.

Young people spend 85% of their waking hours outside of school (YMCA and National Youth Agency Time’s Running Out report 2021 – without dedicated spaces to go to young people are vulnerable to grooming, crime, social isolation and anti-social behaviour.

Youth work saves £500 million on public spending through crime reduction. £1 investment in youth work is estimated to return £3.20 – £6.40 of social value (UK Youth and Frontier Economics: Economic Value of Youth Work report 2022).

Demand for mental health support has skyrocketed by 82% (National Youth Sector Census 2024) – youth services provide vital preventative intervention: 30% of young people felt more self-confident, 22% felt less isolated; 25% had decreased stress levels, 24% said it helped improve their mental health (YMCA and NYA Time’s Running Out 2021.

Youth club closures have led to young people being 14% more likely to commit crimes and 4% doing worse in exams at age 16 (Institute of Fiscal Studies Report 2024).

Thank you

Your support means everything to us.

We continue to raise funds to purchase the building, with every community donation helping us to get one step closer (we’re applying for large grants to secure the purchase). Find out more and donate at www.justgiving.com/campaign/save-ramsgate-youth-centre

We’ve received news that Kent County Council (KCC) is selling Ramsgate Youth Centre, which has been Pie’s headquarters since 2013, as part of their ongoing effort to raise emergency funds to balance their budget.

This is hard news to share with our young people, and our community, especially after we lost our youth service funding from KCC just six months ago, and with the open-access youth service at the Quarterdeck youth centre in Margate being discontinued.

However, we feel strongly that Ramsgate Youth Centre is Pie’s rightful home and we are determined to keep it. So, we’ve decided to try to buy it.

Save Our Youth Centre campaign

We’re aiming to raise at least £500,000 to purchase the building and carry out major maintenance work to improve the building’s safety*. We’ll do this by applying for capital grants from Trusts and Foundations.

We know our community may not be in a position to donate or give money but every little helps.

How you can support our campaign:

• Donate what you can, if you can.
• Talk about Pie with people you know.
• Advocate for us.
• Share our campaign on your social media channels.

We believe young people deserve better.

Here’s why:

• Every young person should have a good quality of life with equal access to creative opportunities and a community of support.
• Young people are being let down by systematic cuts to provision and safe spaces for them to hang out, be creative, and be themselves.
• With the cuts, young people are at higher risk of loneliness, poor mental health and fear of youth violence or exploitation**.

Our young people tell us that our Youth Centre is a “safe haven”, their “second home” and a place to “make a fresh start”, “make friends” and “find freedom”. It’s where we can catch young people at the early stages of something going wrong in their lives, where we can help or protect them from further harm.

Please share our campaign to #SaveOurYouthCentre and help us to show young people in Thanet that they matter, they deserve better, and that their community cares.

Thank you.

Zoë Carassik
Chief Executive Officer, Pie Factory Music

*This figure is an estimate and encompasses the market value of the property plus speculative costs of some major maintenance works that the building requires to make it watertight and improve safety. Costs could change as the process develops.

** 18% of children in Thanet are living in poverty, and the district has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the South East and one of the highest rates of self-harm among young people.

Get creative and active this July and August, with our programme of sessions and workshops for young people aged 13 – 17 in Thanet.

All our usual sessions are running, plus a range of events, projects and workshops, including:

Workshops

Sports Connect active sessions
Monday 22nd & 29th July, 5th & 12th August (Ramsgate Youth Centre), 2:30 – 5:30pm drop-in

Coming of Age Photography workshop with POW Thanet
Thursday 25th July 10am – 3pm (young women aged 14 – 26). Sign up at info@piefactorymusic.com

Sessions

Chill Summer hangout sessions – relax, meet friends, play games
Thursday 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th August, 2 – 4pm drop-in

Trips

Duke of Edinburgh Silver Expedition

31st July – 2nd August (for DofE participants only)

Events

Ellington Park Ramsgate Wellbeing Day with ACT!
14th August 12 – 3pm drop-in. Location: Park Road, Ramsgate CT11 9TL

NEW Bike Project sessions for adults

Take up or return to cycling with our summer bike sessions, especially for adults.

Learn to Fix
We teach you how to maintain and look after your bike, for a summer of pedal power.
Wednesdays 6 – 8pm 24th July – 28th August, drop-in

Repair Shop
Bring your bike to us and we’ll get it back on the road for you to enjoy cycling again.
Fridays 9:30am – 4pm 26th July & 9th, 16th, 23rd August, drop-in

Open to adults, no experience is necessary. All tools provided, just bring your own bike.

How to join our summer sessions

For drop-in sessions, just turn up. For events and sessions where you need to sign up, young people can register during other session times or by emailing us at info@piefactorymusic.com.

All sessions are at Ramsgate Youth Centre, High St Lawrence Ramsgate, CT11 0QG unless otherwise stated.

Youth sessions

We’re running all of our usual youth sessions in Thanet across the summer including Band Room, Live Room, Bike Project, our Youth Clubs, ACT! social action group and Open Arms.

See what’s on and what you can get involved with.

The General Election is taking place on 4^th July 2024. Your voice matters. You can make yourself heard by writing to your local MP and using your vote (if you’re aged 18+).

To help you understand what the political parties are promising, we’ve summarised what each is saying in their Manifesto, in key areas including Education and Young People, Mental Health, the Creative sector and Equality, to give you a snapshot view.

Pie Factory Music is a politically neutral non-profit organisation. We have sourced the information directly from each Manifesto and the BBC’s manifesto comparison tool to provide this neutral summary.

You can read each Manifesto by clicking the links below:

Conservatives Manifesto
Labour Manifesto
Liberal Democrats Manifesto
Green Party Manifesto
Reform UK Manifesto
Workers Party Manifesto

Education and Young People

Conservatives

Protect day-to-day school spending in real terms per pupil

Ban mobile phone use during school and ensure parents can see what is being taught, especially in areas such as sex education.

Replace A-levels and T-levels with an Advanced British Standard giving 16 to 19-year-olds a broader education.

Deliver 100,000 more high-skilled apprenticeships a year by closing the poorest performing university courses.

Provide 60,000 more places for children with Special Educational Needs, and a further 15 new free schools for SEN pupils.

To provide young people with a secure future:

Introduce mandatory National Service for 18-year-olds – either taking on a role serving the community or securing a military placement.

Fund 100,000 high-quality apprenticeships for young people, paid for by curbing the number of poor-quality university degrees that leave young people worse off.

Labour

Recruit 6,500 more teachers in key subjects.

Provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.

Improve maths teaching across nurseries and primary schools.

Review the curriculum to make it broader and give children more opportunities to study music, sport and the arts.

Turn further education colleges into Technical Excellence Colleges and improve apprenticeships to boost skills.

Fund free breakfast clubs in every primary school, accessible to all children.

Young Futures Hubs, which will make sure every community has an open-access hub for children and young people with drop-in mental health support.

Liberal Democrats

Increase school and college funding per pupil.

Invest in new school buildings and clearing the backlog of repairs.

Put a dedicated, qualified mental health professional in every school.

Extend free school meals to another 900,000 children living in low-income households, and aim to extend further to every child in primary school.

Invest in high-quality early years education.

Reinstate maintenance grants to cover living costs for disadvantaged students.

Boost apprenticeship numbers by replacing the existing apprenticeship levy with a skills and training levy.

Introduce a ‘Tutoring Guarantee’ for every disadvantaged pupil who needs extra support.

Create new Lifelong Skills Grants, giving all adults £5,000 to spend on education and training throughout their lives.

Appoint a Cabinet Minister for Children and Young People.

Expand opportunities for young people to study, teach and volunteer abroad by returning to the Erasmus Plus programme as an associated country.

Giving 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote.

Green Party

Increase school funding by £8bn, including £2bn to increase pay for teachers.

Put a trained and paid counsellor in every school and sixth-form college.

Free school meals for all children and free breakfast clubs for children up to Year 6 (age 10-11).

End “high-stakes” testing for primary and secondary schools and abolish Ofsted.

Invest £5bn in Special Educational Needs provision in mainstream schools.

Adequate support in the school system for neurodivergent children and children with special educational needs.

Scrap university tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants.

Votes for 16-year-olds and residence-based voting rights.

Increase minimum wage to £15 an hour, whatever age.

Equal employment rights for all workers from their first day of employment, including those working in the ‘gig economy’ and on zero-hours contracts.

A move to a four-day working week.

Reform UK

Introduce a Patriotic Curriculum in Primary and Secondary Schools.

Double the number of Pupil Referral Units to keep more disruptive students outside of schools.

Scrap interest payments on student loans and extend the repayment period to 45 years.

Make universities offer two-year degree courses.

Cut funding for universities that allow political bias or undermine free speech.

Workers Party of Britain

Offer free breakfasts and lunches during term time for all schoolnchildren.

Review the national curriculum.

Return day-to-day control of education to local authorities.

Replace Ofsted with a system to supervise and coach staff.

Scrap university tuition fees, place the university sector under greater scrutiny and guarantee full academic freedom.

Commit to apprenticeships and to free and affordable vocational education.

A right to free tuition first degree that could be taken at any time during one’s life.

Financially support vocational education, apprenticeships and trades education.

Free breakfasts and lunches during term time for all school children.

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Mental health

Conservatives

Expand coverage of Mental Health Support Teams from 50% to 100% of schools and colleges in England by 2030.

Open early support hubs for those aged 11-25 in every local community by 2030.

Increase the planned expansion of NHS Talking Therapies by 50%, supporting people with anxiety, stress and depression.

Labour

Recruit 8,500 more mental health staff.

Young Futures hubs will provide open access mental health services for children and young people in every community.

Liberal Democrats

Improve early access to mental health services, including walk-in hubs for children and young people.

Green party

Increase mental health funding to allow people to access evidence-based therapies within 28 days.

Reform UK

No reference to mental health in the manifesto.

Workers Party of Britain

Increase health service capacity and integrate this with greater social care provision, including support for mental health.

Improve mental health by giving working households greater security.

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Creative sector

Conservatives

Will work with industry to deliver a dedicated flexible coordination service so that everyone who wants to work in the film, TV, gaming and music sectors can work on live productions whilst benefiting from at least 12 months of secure training.

Labour

Implement creative industries sector plan as part of = Industrial Strategy, creating good jobs and accelerating growth in film, music, gaming, and other creative sectors.

Launch a new National Music Education Network – a one-stop shop with information on courses and classes for parents, teachers and children.

Liberal Democrats

Promote creative skills, address the barriers to finance faced by small businesses, and support modern and flexible patent, copyright and licensing rules.

Negotiate free and simple short-term travel arrangements for UK artists to perform in the EU, and European artists to perform in the UK.

Establish creative enterprise zones to grow and regenerate the cultural output of areas across the UK.

Green Party

A £5bn investment to support community sports, arts and culture.

Keeping local sports facilities, museums, theatres, libraries and art galleries open and thriving.

An end to VAT on cultural activities, lowering the prices of everything from museum tickets to gigs in local pubs and making these more accessible.

Reform UK

No reference in the manifesto.

Workers Party

Arts spending will be on national and working-class culture.

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Equality

Conservatives

Introduce primary legislation to clarify that the protected characteristic of sex in the Equality Act means biological sex.

Will pass legislation to ensure schools must follow our guidance for teachers on how best to support gender questioning students in schools and colleges.

Ambition to make the country the most accessible place in the world – Inclusive Britain plan,  Disability Action Plan, British Sign Language Act, Down Syndrome Act.

Labour

Introduce Race Equality Act, focus on Women’s Equality, modernise gender recognition law.

Introduce the full right to equal pay for disabled people.

Protect LGBT+ and disabled people by making all existing strands of hate crime an aggravated offence.

Deliver a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Liberal Democrats

Champion the Human Rights Act and resist any attempts to weaken or repeal it.

Develop and implement a comprehensive Race Equality Strategy to address deep inequalities, including in education, health, criminal justice and the economy.

Make misogyny a hate crime and give police and prosecutors the resources and training to prevent and prosecute all hate crimes.

Give everyone the right to flexible working and every disabled person the right to work from home if they want to.

Respect and defend the rights of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including trans and non-binary people.

Green Party

Campaign to end violence against women and girls.

Campaign for the right of self-identification for trans and non-binary people.

Scrap the Prevent programme and tackle hate crime, misogyny, Islamophobia and antisemitism. Seek to restore trust and confidence in the police..

Readily available tailored provision to meet the needs of communities of colour, children and adolescents, older people and LGBTIQA+ communities.

Reform UK

Ban Transgender ideology from schools and insist schools have single-sex facilities.

Reaffirm British Sovereignty.

Replace the 2010 Equalities Act – scrap Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DE&I) rules.

Propose a Comprehensive Free Speech Bill.

Workers Party

Everyone will be encouraged throughout the educational system to ‘be their own person’.

We’re here

Talk to us if you need help writing to your MP or understanding the process of how to vote. Email us at info@piefactorymusic.com or chat with our youth workers in a session.

Join our fundraising supergroup!

We are looking for up to four volunteers to form a fundraising supergroup that will help us boost our fundraising capacity over the coming months.

Your support will help us diversify our income streams and keep the charity in the strong financial health we have achieved over the last few years. If you believe in our work for young people and think you can help by donating your time and skills, we want to hear from you.

What’s the commitment?

From February to July 2024 we are asking for:
– 6 x 2-hour roundtable meetings for the fundraising supergroup (2 meetings a month)
– 2 x monthly phone / video calls with the CEO & senior management team for coaching / strategy input
– Responding in a timely manner (i.e. within a week) to emails from the CEO for these 6 months.

Why give us your time and skills for free?

We know this is a big ask – people are very busy and belts couldn’t be tighter. But we believe that with an injection of short-term coaching and tangible support into Pie’s senior management team in the run-up to a period of substantial change for the organisation – Kent County Council are cutting funding for commissioned youth services. With your help, we will be further shored up to sustain our vital services whatever comes our way. The news that

In spring 2024 we will launch a fuller recruitment drive to expand our Board of Trustees, and this short-term volunteer role is a brilliant opportunity for someone thinking about supporting our charity but not able to commit to the longer-term responsibilities of being a full Trustee.

This in-kind support will boost the current fundraising we have underway and strengthen our future bids and fundraising portfolio; actively demonstrating the belief that our community has in what we do – it is invaluable.

Interested?

Please email our CEO at zoe@piefactorymusic.com for an informal chat.

Thank you for your past, present and future support.

Love,

Team Pie

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We’ve received the news that Kent County Council will be going ahead with cutting commissioned youth services as outlined in the consultation they published this summer.

So many of you sent heartfelt responses in support of Pie’s work, and the importance of open-access youth work generally – thank you. We are so grateful for the messages of love and encouragement we received and continue to receive from our community – it gives us the motivation and courage to carry on, despite the difficulties.

As we come to the end of our current youth service contracts – the end of March 2024 – we will be reflecting on our programmes, strategy and plans for the future; making sure that we do our best to continue providing a level of service and pastoral care that young people deserve. There will be some necessary changes to what we deliver and where from April 2024, and we’ll make sure you are kept informed as we go along.

While the final result is disappointing, we are nonetheless feeling hopeful and excited about what the future holds for Pie; our music and creative arts programmes such as the Emerging Artists programme and Open Arms are going from strength to strength, and we will be taking the energy and momentum from our campaigning with us into collaborations with new funders, partners and supporters.

We believe in a world where every young person has a good quality of life with equal access to creative opportunities and a community of support, and we are committed to advocating for this until this is the reality for all young people in our community. With that in mind – we need your help!

Join our fundraising supergroup!

What’s the commitment?

From February to July 2024 we are asking for:
– 6 x 2-hour roundtable meetings for the fundraising supergroup (2 meetings a month)
– 2 x monthly phone / video calls with the CEO & senior management team for coaching / strategy input
– Responding in a timely manner (i.e. within a week) to emails from the CEO for these 6 months.

Why give us your time and skills for free?

We know this is a big ask – people are very busy and belts couldn’t be tighter. But we believe that with an injection of short-term coaching and tangible support into Pie’s senior management team in the run-up to a period of substantial change for the organisation, we will be further shored up to sustain our vital services whatever comes our way.

In spring 2024 we will launch a fuller recruitment drive to expand our Board of Trustees, and this short-term volunteer role is a brilliant opportunity for someone thinking about supporting our charity but not able to commit to the longer-term responsibilities of being a full Trustee.

This in-kind support will boost the current fundraising we have underway and strengthen our future bids and fundraising portfolio; actively demonstrating the belief that our community has in what we do – it is invaluable.

Interested?

Please email our CEO at zoe@piefactorymusic.com for an informal chat.

Thank you for your past, present and future support.

Love,

Team Pie

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