It started with five young people and one football.

There was no big plan, no huge budget and no fancy equipment. Just a simple belief that the young people in our community deserved somewhere to go, something positive to be part of and people around them who genuinely cared.

That small Sunday football session on St Raphael’s Estate became the beginning of #straphs.

Week by week, more young people started turning up. Five became ten, ten became twenty, and what started with one football began growing into a community.

Today, St Raphs Youth Development CIC brings young people together through football, youth activities, workshops, volunteering, community events and safe spaces. But behind every session, game and activity is something much more important: belonging.

We want our young people to grow up knowing that their community believes in them.

We want them to have somewhere they can walk into and feel welcome. Somewhere they can laugh with their friends, try something new, speak about what matters to them, build their confidence and simply enjoy being young.

For some, #straphs might be a Sunday football session.

For another young person, it might be the place where they make a new friend.

For someone else, it might be an opportunity they never thought they would have.

And sometimes, it can simply be knowing that every week there is somewhere they can go where someone will be happy to see them.

That is what we want to protect and grow.

As #straphs has grown, we have listened to our young people and continued creating opportunities around what they need. We want to provide more activities, more experiences and more spaces where young people can feel safe, supported and encouraged to become the best versions of themselves.

We are now hoping to raise £10,000 to help us take the next step.

Your donations will help us continue providing free and accessible opportunities for young people, including football sessions and equipment, youth club activities, workshops, trips and experiences, community projects, and resources for HERspace, our dedicated space supporting girls as they grow in confidence, build friendships and express themselves.

Every contribution matters.

A donation isn't simply helping us buy a football, pay for an activity or organise a trip. It's helping create a memory, an opportunity, a friendship or a moment where a young person feels like they belong.

And those moments matter.

We started with five young people and one football.

We don't know exactly how far #straphs will grow, but we do know that we want to keep showing up for our young people, week after week, and continue building something they can call their own.

If you are able to donate, thank you. If you aren't able to donate, simply sharing our story can help us reach somebody who can.

Help us give young people a space to grow, a community to belong to and more opportunities to discover what they are capable of.

From everyone at St Raphs Youth Development CIC, thank you for believing in our young people.