Nobody grows up alone
We work with 11 to 19 year olds across Bristol who are doing it harder than they should have to. Mentoring, a river school, a growing project and a bike workshop, four evenings a week and all through the holidays.
412
Young people last year
68
Volunteer mentors
9,300
Hours given
11
Neighbourhoods
What we actually do
Four programmes, all free, all referral-optional. Anyone can walk in.
One to one
River school
The growing project
Bike workshop
Campaigns
What we are raising for right now.
Forty new mentors
01 Sep 2026£18,000 trains, checks and supports forty new volunteer mentors for a year.
Six new boats
12 Aug 2026£9,400 replaces the oldest six kayaks and buys buoyancy aids that fit.
The Thursday meal
20 Jun 2026£6,000 keeps a hot meal on the table every Thursday for a year.
Roof over the bike workshop
04 Apr 2026£24,000 for a permanent roof so the workshop runs in winter.
A minibus that starts
16 Jan 2026£31,000 for a replacement seventeen-seater. Ours failed its last MOT twice.
I had a mentor for two years. She is the reason I sat my exams. I am one of the mentors now.
The people who run it
Dan Okonjo
Ran the bike workshop for six years before anyone gave him a title.
Priya Raman
Trains and matches every mentor, and makes the difficult phone calls.
Sue Whitfield
Two allotments, one polytunnel, and an argument about slugs she is losing.
Marcus Bell
British Canoeing coach. Has pulled more people out of the harbour than he admits.
News
The riverside run raised £11,200
06 Sep 2026Three hundred and forty people ran five kilometres along the harbour in the rain.
River school gets its coaching award
22 Jul 2026Four young people qualified as British Canoeing coaches this summer.
A second allotment
14 May 2026The council has given us a second plot in Bedminster, and it needs clearing.
Art club is back
08 Mar 2026A funded artist in residence means Monday evenings are running again.
Two hours a week changes a year
Mentors are the thing we always need more of. Training is free, it runs over three evenings, and you do not need any experience of youth work.