JLGB Return to Face-to-Face Weekly Youth Activities

This is for sure not how we planned to spend our 125th anniversary year, but I could not be more proud of the staff, volunteers and young leaders who have stepped up and kept JLGB going and entertained, educated and informed children, young people and their families through our JLGB Virtual channel during these unprecedented and uncertain times.

After a year of award-winning online programmes with JLGB Virtual, we have been hard at work preparing for the return to face-to-face activities and following a hugely successful pilot, JLGB weekly groups began to return in May, in line with government legislation and National Youth Agency Guidelines.

JLGB have put numerous measures in place to ensure a safe return to face-to-face including contactless registration, temperature checks, increased hand washing, enhanced cleaning and the creation of specially designed socially distances activities.

We have also developed our own specific guidance framework and safe return plan which sets out the steps that need to be taken to prepare for welcoming young people back to face-to-face activities Though we do this with extreme caution, as the safety of our members and volunteers must always come first, we are really happy to see the safe return of JLGB weekly groups.

During this long hiatus, JLGB has been able to implement many changes that have been long in the pipeline and are now coming to fruition as our weekly groups finally reopen. Lockdown has been tough in so many ways, but it’s also been a catalyst for upgrading and creating new digital systems that have streamlined the way JLGB activities run at local and national level.

‘JLGB FUEL’ is the new centralised system that powers local groups, providing them with shared themes and resources and programmes, further enhancing JLGB’s impact across the UK. This means that JLGB can open up new groups in new areas with minimal effort and in greater partnership with local communities.

Find a group reopening soon in your area, including: Barnet, Birmingham, Borehamwood, Brighton, Bushey, Cardiff, Edgware, Finchley, Glasgow, Hampstead, Kingston, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Mill Hill, Muswell Hill, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Radlett, Shenley, Redbridge, Wimbledon, Woodford and more.

Places will be limited, so parents please make sure you register in advance online at: www.jlgb.org/return

I leave the last words to Cidney Miller, JLGB’s National Youth Representative and Virtual Youth Host, aged 17, who said recently:

“JLGB Virtual has been the most amazing experience to not only play a part in, but to also watch the incredible activities presented to all the young people stuck at home. However, I can’t wait to see my friends in person instead of over Zoom, which is why I’m so excited to return to face-to-face activities! All the changes that JLGB has made will make JLGB more youth-led than before and with a whole new set of programmes to interest everyone, I just can’t wait to get back!”

To find out more about your local JLGB fill in the form below, call 020 8989 8990, email hello@jlgb.org or find @JLGBHQ on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.