Youth Projects

Thursday 5^th. June 2025 – Youth Projects - Alex Peace-Gadsby

Alex Peace-Gadsby OBE DL is the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire focusing on Youth Projects – not just in the Nottinghamshire area. She is a Mansfield born entrepreneur and clearly from her presentation is a prolific volunteer who is heavily involved in making a difference to the opportunities available for young people, with parental involvement.

Alex explained that her role has included ‘fixing’ developments: 
1) as the former Chief Commissioner of England for the Scouts;
2) as a Vice Chair of Youth United Foundation, supporting 1.5
    million people involved in uniformed youth organisations
    across the UK;
3) being involved in the charity Parentkind, supporting parental
    engagement in education across the UK, including action
    through the UK’s PTA network, which fundraises in excess of
    £122m for schools annually.
Alex explained that, locally, she is the Chair of The Inspire and Achieve Foundation, supporting young people across the county who are not in employment, education, or training. Additionally, she is the Vice-Chair at St Giles School in Retford, which is an aspirational and inspirational school for pupils who are between the ages of 3 and 18 and where there is a focus on Education Health and Care Plan.

Alex pointed out the following associated information:

• In a Leveson Enquiry of 2012: 76% of press coverage concerning young people was negative.

• Fewer than half of children are active – 43% of girls and 47% of boys (Sport England) 

• 38% of primary school children spend at least three hours a day on a device – equivalent to at least a month of 
screen time a year. This rises to 50% for children eligible for free school meals (Parentkind, NPS 2024) 

  An estimated 13% of 16- to 24 year-olds were Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) October to December 2024 (ONS 2025) 

• 27% of children in England are overweight or obese and 64% of adults (NHS, Health Survey for England)
  Alex expanded on some of the features of how the following organisations operate:
  Youth United Foundation (YUF) 

• YUF was founded by His Majesty King Charles III
• The Network is of the 12 largest Uniformed Youth National organisations in the UK
• Over 1.5 million young people are actively involved each week
• Over 80,000 new places created in uniformed youth groups, in disadvantaged communities, supported by £22 million in grant funding (£275 a place)

Why Uniformed Youth – National Children Development Study, 2016
Programmes that teach children self- reliance and teamwork have lifelong benefits for mental health.

Parentkind
  UK’s school PTA network, representing approx. 5.5% of charities and raising £150 million per year


• Annual National Parents Survey 

• Represents the parental voice in education through lobbying e.g. Ofsted measurement, uniform cost, smart phones 


The Inspire & Achieve Foundation

• 70% success rate with hardest to reach young people in our local community, Not in Employment Education or Training (NEET).

• 80% have poor mental health 

• 68% have a learning difficulty 

• 62% have low level English and maths 

• 30% are in hostels or unstable housing 


Why ‘NEET’ young people?

• Circumstance shouldn’t overshadow potential.

• Those NEET age 18-19 are 20% more likely to 
be unemployed 10 years later and spending 
time unemployed below the age of 23 is 
linked to lower wages even 20 years later (UK Government 2023). 


St Giles School, Retford

• Support given to young people aged 3 to 18 with moderate/severe to profound and multiple additional needs.

Many questions and views of the associated difficulties within the areas presented were given by Club Members who as teachers had experienced some of the associated elements in detail. The answers and views from Alex of the needs in the future were, in the opinion of the Vote of Thanks Rotary Member, such that considerable planning and knowledge had been made by her of how progress should be made in the future.

Alan W.