Londonderry's Y.M.C.A. is an active organisation in community development in Londonderry. Along with the Y.M.C.A. Loughs Agency it plans to open a new programme of activities to encourage young people to take up fishing and to improve their awareness of the environment. However, to release significant government funding for the planned programmes they needed trained coaches to NVQ Level 2. Dreamstore's small seeding grant to the project has covered the cost of three NVQ courses and means that within a number of months a series of programmes will begin. Central to the programme schedule will be a rolling 10 week, four times a year course introducing kids from the North West to fishing.
Without the modest grant from Dreamstore we would have been unable to unlock a wealth of funding opportunity which will enable us to engage young people and their parents in a series of programmes centred on fishing skills.We know this will create new friendships and contacts that will greatly benefit community relations in a region which has had an unfortunate share of division and conflict over the past 35 years.
William Lamrock
Chief Executive, Londonderry Y.M.C.A. (Northern Ireland)