Club Meeting: Kent Young Carers

President Peter introduced our speaker Mark Blamey from Young Carers.  

Mark has had a very varied career, qualifying as an Estates Manager and then retrained as a Vicar.  He has lived in Weymouth, Oxford, Jersey and now Canterbury.  He began working for Cluttons in Canterbury.  He served as a curate in East Oxford and was manager of the Jersey Alzheimer's Association.   

Mark now works for IMAGO which is an organisation providing a range of services for all ages.  They provide advice on a consultancy basis to other charities.  He told us that there are 800,000 secondary school pupils in England who have a caring role.  Their average age is 13.  

Young carers are more likely to have anxiety or depression than other children their age.   Half of them feel stressed and lonely as a result of their caring roles.  They are often late for school due to their caring duties and because not all families let schools know their situation, the carers are often picked on and bullied.   A quarter say that their caring role has made it more difficult for them to form friendships.  One in five has never had a summer holiday.   

There are 800 young carers on the books in the Ashford and surrounding area, 80 of whom have high level needs. Mark thanked us for our support for Kent Young Carers.  He attended the children's Christmas party and saw how smoothly it ran.  There followed a question and answer session.  

Sue F gave he vote of thanks.