“We don’t usually watch or listen to our breath, do we? Even though it’s there all the time. It’s so relaxing, it’s like swimming.”

“Thank you Your Back Yard for challenging us and finding our hidden talent” (Talking about the programme of multi-sports for over 50s that we ran with them.)

Regarding the Father’s Day Activity day we ran for Dads and their children in Brackenhill Park:

“It was great fun day, and we enjoyed doing different activities in the park with our children. It gave us the opportunity to spend some quality time together, and have fun at the same time. All the activities were well planned and were very interactive”

“Your Back Yard piloting the summer programme really showed how well-used the park could be over summer, to the benefit of people of all ages, especially children and families who might be struggling to find things they can afford for children to do during holidays.

The work helped forge relationships that will make it so much easier for the Friends of Wibsey Park to sustain a programme of activities this summer, and hopefully into the future.”

“Your Back Yard came in to help local people and elected members to refresh and renew a ‘Friend of’ group that had, over time, become inactive . We invested some ward money into getting Your Back Yard to draw up a plan to involve local people in the revival and renewal of the Friends of Wibsey Park group, by allowing them to bring forward their ideas. We secured new volunteers, a new vision, and a sense of local ownership. Your Back Yard were then asked to develop a new committee, invest money we had gained, and then enter bids for events (which succeeded!).

A spectacularly successful bid came off, and we now have a significant sum of money to invest in the park. We also have a renewed body of volunteers, and a viable committee capable of seeking further funding.”

“Working with Your Back Yard has been a really good experience for BEA and OWLS. It’s a partnership. A real partnership. We talk, we throw ideas around, we mix and combine our areas of knowledge and interest, and that’s how we’ve kept improving the projects we’re working on together. The Your Back Yard team are very open to new ways of working, they listen, and act on it. We’re really happy with the partnership project that has created Walking Football games for older people in West Leeds and North West Leeds, it’s been exciting and invigorating to see the players getting a lot out of the sessions, but critically, the process has been really good between us, and we’re learning together all the time.”

Regarding the Bramley Fall Park Healthy Living Park project:

“It was great to see Bramley Fall Park so busy on a lovely summers day with a range of activities on offer. Lots of fun was had by all, a great family day out, with something for everyone. Day’s like these are fantastic, bringing the community together and showing what great places parks are. Lots of new friendships were formed and the event hopefully inspired people to enjoy the parks even more”

“The young children seemed thoroughly engaged in the Gruffalo story time, the woodland setting made the story much more exciting for everybody and will have encouraged more reading and introduced an stimulating environment close to home – bedtime stories will never be the same again!”

“The School of Sociology and Social Policy has been working with Your Back Yard for four years. Your Back Yard has provided our students with opportunities to use and develop a wide range of research and employability skills undertaking projects in the community. This has been really advantageous for our students who have used the experience to enable them to secure employment once they have graduated by allowing them to apply the conceptual knowledge they gain in their degree programmes to real life situations. A number of our students have continued to work with Your Back Yard following completion of their studies. Our School hopes to continue to work with the organisation in the future.”

“I worked with Your Back Yard (YBY) on a Big Potential-funded project that focused on partnering up with the Cardigan Centre in Leeds to further community regeneration. This involved developing a grassroots partnership to improve health and wellbeing. 

YBY is an innovative social enterprise undertaking excellent work to revitalise local neighbourhoods. They have significant expertise in grassroots community development across a range of aspects – environment/use of green space, health, employment etc. They adopt an asset-based approach that recognises and builds on local communities’ strengths and capabilities. They are passionate about their work and committed to the pursuit of excellence in everything they do.”

“Robin and the team provided a detailed and robust assessment of the options for our church building, and provided a range of interesting proposals.  They have given us a lot of food for thought.”

“We engaged Your Back Yard to assist us with reviewing our management and funding options for our local park,  Your Back Yard did an excellent job of surveying our community and local schools and then analysing the data to produce some really useful insights  that have enabled us to progress some key projects in the park. I would happily recommend Your Back Yard and engage them in the future.”

“It was lovely to work with Your Back Yard. Robin was quickly able to grasp what we needed for this project and provided some very useful feedback on our proposals as well as helpful suggestions for moving forward.

The project was delivered in tight timescales and the presentation and final report were well received. Robin was very easy to work with and we have benefitted from his help and support.

He has provided prompt professional advice which in the long term will help us establish a successful project.”

“Robin’s input and support has been invaluable in getting us to this stage.  We now have a sound business plan and a strong Lottery application, which we could not have achieved without his practical help and advice.”

“Tony facilitated a lively debate with residents in relation to planning the projects, he displayed a sound knowledge of local issues and kept the group focussed and engaged throughout.  The chosen projects will deliver a real solution to the problems of anti-social behaviour in the area.”

“Robin provided excellent facilitation that engaged everyone in agreeing a vision for the future of Northern Architecture.  He kept things moving and ensured that we ended up with a clear action plan for our next steps.”

“Tony worked diligently in Thurrock to ensure that we got a number of small capital schemes off the ground for local young people. He worked at ease with different age groups and had a good approach with young people in particular.  Highly recommended”

“We owe David a big vote of appreciation for all the hard work he put into helping us produce such an excellent Parish Plan and Village Design Statement. We hope he goes on to help many more communities produce something similar. We would certainly endorse his work.”

“The team worked collaboratively with residents and key partners to identify their issues and find solutions to ASB in East Herringthorpe. The workshops were facilitated to an excellent standard and the team made the local residents who attended feel very welcome. I would definitely work with them in the future and would highly recommend them!”

“Tony has been an invaluable source of advice and energy in consulting with the community in Aberford as an integral part of developing our Master Plan. The work he has undertaken has meant we have been able to reach out to the whole community – adults, children, young people, businesses and community groups – in ways we simply do not have the skills to do ourselves.”

“I just wanted to say a personal thanks for all your help with the Our Place application for Byker Old Town. We just got notification we were successful with our recent bid. Couldn’t have done it without you – so thank you very much!”