SNG supports first ever Didcot Youth Fest
Around 500 young people came to Didcot’s first ever youth festival which was held at the Cornerstone Arts Centre on Thursday 24 July. Didcot Youth Fest was a vibrant, youth-led celebration of creativity, culture, connection and community bringing together hundreds of young people, led by South Oxfordshire Youth Organisation TRAIN.
The event was supported by £5,000 of Sovereign Network Group (SNG) #iWill funding and generated a further £3,000 in local support. This event is part of 12 #iWill Wellbeing and Social Action Festivals that will run across this summer until the end of 2026. Find out more here.
Young people were key to the design, planning and delivery of Didcot Youth Fest and came together with TRAIN to facilitate a vibrant youth festival offering young people the opportunity to connect with their community, try new activities, learn more about the local services on offer for them and engage in wellbeing conversations. The event also provided platform for emerging local talent, with performances and exhibitions showcasing music, art, dance, and more — all by and for young people.
The festival’s venue was transformed into eight different zones; a buzzing hub of activity, featuring everything from DJ/music production opportunities and creative and wellbeing workshops to giant games, free food, smoothie bikes, and outside activities.
At the heart of Didcot Youth Fest was a careers fair-style exhibition space, where local organisations including SOFEA (South Oxfordshire Food and Education Alliance), Inspire Sounds, Didcot Community Partnership, SOHA and many others came together to provide fun activities and share opportunities available to young people in and around the town.
This event was huge success and organisers are already in early conversations around how to make this a regular event.
Rach Fulford, SNG’s Head of Community Investment and Strategic Partnerships, commented: “Didcot Youth Fest has been fantastic and it demonstrates our commitment to wellbeing and youth social action within the thriving communities where we have homes. In total, SNG is investing over £1million into our Wellbeing Champions Programme (WCP), to create youth social action opportunities and support young peoples’ mental health and wellbeing across our communities, amplifying youth voice and co-creating programmes that matter most to them.”
Ben Drabble. CEO at TRAIN, said: “We had a great time running Didcot Youth Fest. A huge thanks to Sovereign Network Group for the inspiration, funding and support to make it happen. Hundreds of young people came through the doors and the feedback has been fantastic. From pancake making and DJ sets to creative art workshops, a football cage and thoughtful conversations about mental health and identity – it was a brilliant mix. The best part was seeing so many different youth service providers working together for the benefit of Didcot’s young people. We’re hoping that collective endeavour will be a springboard for future joint projects.”
Launched in 2022, the SNG #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to a £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high-quality social action opportunities. SNG is acting as an #iwill Fund match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund through the SNG #iwill Fund.
There are many ways for young people and organisations interested in youth social action to get involved with the SNG #iwill Fund. As well as these festivals and their grant programmes, this also includes those who may want to join the SNG Youth Social Action Network, which is open to all relevant organisations, regardless of whether they already work with SNG.
For further information about the SNG #iwill Fund, head to our webpage. For more information about the festival, or to get involved in future local festivals, please visit the TRAIN website.