It’s Youth Work Week 2025!
Image above: ‘The Venny’ a Coventry City based youth club I worked in for many years (and have such fond memories of).
On the 3rd November 2025 a very special week for youth workers begins… yes that’s right people, it’s Youth Work Week! And it's time for you youth workers to take a step back and reflect on the amazing work you do and the huge difference you make to young people’s lives.
The NYA set the annual theme for Youth Work Week celebrations and this year that theme is ‘Building Brighter Futures’. A very sensible focus given the new Youth Strategy that will hopefully be published very soon! I spent some time reflecting on what I thought would make a brighter future for young people and I found myself always coming back to the youth workers themselves and how important it is that they are not only skilled but also feel healthy, happy and valued.
One of my hobbies is writing poetry and I have written a poem entitled ‘An Ode to Youth Workers’. I have written it for all you lovely youth workers who dedicate your lives to supporting and educating young people. I wrote it because I know that youth work can sometimes feel like a thankless job and because youth workers, and their extensive skills, are often taken for granted not only by the young people and the communities they serve but also wider society. If you have five minutes please give my poem a listen, and if you know a hard working youth worker, please share it with them to remind them how important they are and of the positive difference they make for our society. You all deserve a BIG, BIG THANK YOU!
Happy Youth Work Week!
‘An Ode To Youth Workers’
By Lee Ritchie
Recorded at the Media Mania Project in Coventry (Big thanks to David Mills)
Also a massive thank you to all the youth organisations who sent me photos of their youth club spaces - you know who you are!
