Staff and participants at the Trent Bridge Community Trust have been opening up on how the charity has changed their lives, as the organisation marks its tenth anniversary.

The Trust, the charitable arm of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, has invested over £1.5million into community projects over the last decade, leading to savings of around £3million for local services such as the police, fire, ambulance, health and education.

As a video is released showcasing the impact the charity can have, the Trust’s Community Projects Manager Mark Clifford has been reflecting on the ‘unbelievable’ growth that has taken place since his spell with the cause began at its inception.

“I’ll always remember the first day,” he said.

“I was bundled into Cotgrave – just me, my computer and a list of contacts – and was told to ‘crack on’ to stop the behavioural issues which were happening with young people.

“The services which should have been engaging with them couldn’t deal with their behaviour, so we started with basic things, saying ‘if you go to school for the whole of this week, on Friday night we’ll get a pizza in’.

“From things like that, we had the hook. We could encourage them to start achieving in their lessons, or to improve how they were behaving at home.

“We were gaining trust, building relationships and adding support into the community.”

Ten years on, the Trust’s flagship project, Positive Futures, has helped to transform the aspirations of over 650 people.

It provides the structure they need to enrich their lives, develop their skills and improve their employment prospects.

“We were gaining trust, building relationships and adding support into the community.”

Mark Clifford, Community Projects Manager

And the success of Callum, a participant who grew up in Cotgrave and whose journey has been captured on film, is a perfect demonstration of why the programme exists.

“Callum came into the programme almost by referring himself to us, and he never really left,” said Mark.

“We felt he was a young person who needed some support around self-esteem, and a bit of direction.

“He liked to make fun of himself, but you could see that he was probably using that to cover up a few underlying issues.

“He took part in quite an intensive 12-week course to become a mentor, and he soon grew in stature.

“He became someone who wanted to make a difference and support young people.”

Initially attending a programme designed to build resilience and confidence, Callum soon felt comfortable enough to take on the challenge of mentoring others.

This helped him to secure his first job at a local leisure centre, and he now has ambitions to get to the very top of his industry.

“The Positive Futures scheme set me up for life,” said Callum.

“They gave me the knowledge and the life skills I needed to get my foot in the door and follow my passion in the leisure industry.

“I hope to continue to enjoy my life and follow my hopes for career progression thanks to the confidence the Positive Futures programme has helped me to gain.”

“I hope he gets to where he wants to be in the future,” added Mark.

“He’s a young man, and in the next five to ten years I can definitely see him getting to the top of the tree.”

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Find out more about the work of the Trent Bridge Community Trust here.