Projects

A Big Thanks to Tesco!

A big thanks to Tesco Bags of Help, who generously funded us in November 2024 with a grant of £1500. This has allowed us to fund our 6-week programme of free online exercise classes designed for older adults and beginners!  Thank you also to the Tesco customers who enabled our […]

Bramley Digital Cafe, in a cafe

In September 2024 we were delighted to received a grant of £18,000 from the national lottery ‘Awards for All’ ‘Programme to fund digital sessions in our new ‘Healthy Living Cafe’ in Bramley shopping Centre. ‘Your Back Yard’ are moving into the basement of the cafe, which will be ran by […]

‘Ageing Better through exercise and activity’

In August we were really excited to be awarded a £14,000 grant from Sport England to support our ‘Ageing Better Through Exercise and Activity project’. Working in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Older People’s Forum, Bramley Elderly Action, and Active Leeds, we will be recruiting older adults across Leeds […]

Getting Older Adults Active in LS6, 2024

We are delighted to have been funded by Leeds City Council Inner Northwest Community Committe to provide a programme of healthy activities designed to help older adults get more active. Working in partnership with OWLS, a charity that works to improve facilities and services for over 60’s in the LS6 […]

Evaluation of the Our Sale West Big Local Programme

We are delighted to have been commissioned by ‘Our Sale West’ to carry out an an evaluation of the impact of their Big local programme. In 2024 150 local communities were given £1million to make their areas an even better place to live, including Sale West.  As they come to […]

Digital Inclusion in care home settings 11/10/23

We are really excited to have been awarded a grant from The National Lottery’s ‘Awards for All’ prgramme to fund an innovative new project, providing support for older adults to get online in care homes. We are really grateful for the continued support from The National Lottery who have supported […]

New digital inclusion project!

We’re delighted to have secured more funding from the digital inclusion fund, which will enable us to continue and expand our digital inclusion work across Leeds! This piece of funding will allow us to focus on digital inclusion within the care sector, working closely with 100% Digital Leeds. We’re looking […]

Firvale Community Hub

We’re really excited to be working with Firvale Community Hub, an award-winning charity based in Sheffield that focuses on developing and improving the lives of people within this area. We have been fortunate enough to be commissioned to help establish a community cafe based here. We’re also looking to help […]

Free Women’s Fitness Sessions!

We have secured funding to run 8 free women’s fitness sessions! They run every Monday from 11 am – 12 at Burley Lodge Community Centre. Come along and try a new activity.

Bramley Summer Activities Programme

We will provide sports and fitness sessions for children and adults over the summer! This will include a Family Fun Day, Multisports sessions, Summer Football Tournament, Walking Football tournament and an Intergenerational Sports Day.

New Project: Healthy Warm and Well Activities!

We have successfully applied for the Health, Warm and Well Grant of Leeds Olde People’s Forum! With this funding, we can continue our project, Getting Active and Online, along with a few new additions! We have decided to add 2 new culturally sensitive classes one for men only and one […]

NEW Digital Inclusion Cafe!

Starting NEXT WEEK we’ll be at the @hamara_hlc every Thursday morning delivering our Digital Inclusion Cafe! That means we’ve now got 3 Digital Cafes on the go across Leeds! Over the 9 weeks, we’re hoping to cover a range of topics depending on what our learners want to know – whether that’s […]

Getting Active and Online is BACK!

Our Get Active and Online classes are BACK, starting up again NEXT WEEK! We’re back with a NEW schedule! This time we’re bringing back our Intergenerational Zoom Cafes! This means, twice a week you are invited to stick around after class for a chat and some fun activities led by […]

10 years of YBY!

Who would have thought it? 10 years old already! From over 50 projects we have delivered over a decade we have selected our favourites! To find out more about these projects and all the others check out our projects page on our website! Read to the end to the end […]

NEW GRANT from Good Things Foundation

💚 GOOD NEWS ALERT 💚 We are so happy to announce we have been successful in our application for a £4,000 Digital Inclusion Capability Grant from the Good Things Foundation! We can’t wait to get to work expanding our capacity to deliver digital inclusion through commissioning outreach work and expanding our […]

New Digital Cafe at MHA in Beeston, South Leeds

NEW Digital Cafe coming to South Leeds!🎉 We will be delivering our newest Digital Inclusion Sessions at MHA in Beeston! We are very excited to be working with MHA to help their members improve this digital skill!📱👨‍💻 This Digital Cafe will be starting in February and running for 12 weeks! We can’t […]

Fitness Classes at Woodhouse Community Centre

As part of our Inner Northwest Activities, funded by the Housing Advisory Panel and Community Committee of Leeds City Council we will be delivering Under 16s Boxercise classes as well as Yoga sessions. Our Boxercise will be starting on the 23rd of January and Yoga starts on the 8th of […]

Digital Cafes and Holt Park Active and OWLS

After 10 weeks at Holt Park and 12 weeks at OWLS, our Digital Inclusion Cafes for the year are coming to an end. We have really enjoyed delivering these sessions to our learners and are so proud and amazed by their progress! Unlike our previous Digital Cafes, sessions at OWLS […]

Inner Northwest Activities

We have been successful in our bids to Community Committee and Housing Advisory Panel for the Inner North West to secure funding for our LS6 Activites and to offer these activities to participants with no FEE! This funding supports our Get Active and Online classes! ​These are targeted exercise classes […]

Reach Fund secured for Bramley Health Living Cafe!

We have some great news! The Reach Fund Have Awarded us £6250! This enables us to pursue our vision of a healthy living café in Bramley Shopping Centre! This funding allows us to prepare a very detailed business plan for the cafe. We are so excited about this new venture, […]

Stoke North Big Local Community Plan

In May of 2022, we were commissioned by Stoke North Big Local to help develop their 2025 plan to spend the last of the £1 million fund given to make Stoke an even better place to live! In 2013 Stoke North Big Local was given £1 million by the Big […]

West Leeds Women’s Walking Football Team

We’re so excited to announce our plans to start a WOMENS walking football team! After the success of our mixed team, we thought we’d look into starting a women’s over-40s team. In case you don’t know, walking football is just as it sounds! Football, just at a slightly slower pace […]

GRANT from Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund!

We are so happy to announce we have been successful in our application for a £10,000 grant from the Leeds Digital Inclusion Fund! We are so excited to get to work expanding our digital inclusion work through employing a dedicated outreach worker, purchasing more tablets and data and recruiting more […]

Digital Cafe: Holt Park Active

The second of our 3 Digital Cafes funded by National Lottery Awards for All will be at Holt Park Active in Northwest Leeds! We were approached by a representative from Leeds City Council running activities at Holt Park Active after presenting our projects at a conference held by 100% Digital. […]

Digital Inclusion: OWLS

We have been funded by The National Lottery Awards for All start 3 new Digital Cafes. Our first is with Older Wiser Local Seniours (OWLS) in Headingley, offering digital support to members for 8 weeks! We will be hosting weekly sessions providing a mix of structured lessons and drop-in style […]

Places For People Digital Inclusion – Daisyfield Grange

We have been funded by ‘Places for People’ to offer digital support to the residents of Daisyfield Grange for 8 weeks! It will most certainly be a challenge getting their residents online as they have no experience using a device. However, we are always up for a challenge, wanting to […]

YBYs Non-Traditional After School Club at Greenhill Primary

We are running a programme of non-traditional after school club sessions at Greenhill Primary, as part of our Heights and Bawns project.   So far we have run Yoga, Walking Football, Netball and Boxercise sessions for years 5&6. To find out more about our activities and how your kids can […]

Digital Inclusion Worker

We have received funding from The National Lottery Awards for All to hire a Digital Inclusion Worker to run 3 new Digital Cafes in Headingley, Farnley, Wortley and Beeston! We hope by hiring a dedicated Digital Inclusion worker we will successfully be able to get digitally isolated older adults online […]

Seaton Valley Action Plan

YBY has been commissioned to write Seaton Valleys action plan. We were previously commissioned by Seaton Valley City Council to develop 5 village based action plans for Seaton Valley, so we are excited to get back out there to see some old and new faces.

Walking group in Headingley

We are working in partnership with OWLS to get seniors living in the Inner Northwest active and social by running a walking group in Headingley.

Digital Inclusion

Last year we were commissioned by Bramley Elderly Action to provide digital support for their members. Members who were referred to the project were offered a digital device on loan for three months with the option to purchase at the end. Alongside the device loan, one to one digital support […]

Inner North West Activity Programme

We have been funded by the Inner North West Community Committee to deliver a programme of sports and healthy living activities for residents (particularly council residents) living in Headingley, Hyde Park, Woodhouse, Little London, and Weetwood! We will be working collaboratively with local organisations based in the areas listed above […]

Brinnington Big Local Plan

Your Back Yard has been commissioned by Brinnington Big Local to help them write their Big Local Plan for their next 3 years of funding, which takes them into 2025. From 2018 – 2021 they have made great efforts supporting victims of domestic abuse and those who experience poor mental […]

Sunday 19th September – Bramley Walking Football Tournament For Older Adults

All in a beautiful setting, free to anyone who can remember ‘Pan’s People’, outdoor toilets and spam sandwiches.

Intergenerational: Fun, Friends, Fitness

In Zoom to 3K, we want to take the best of our recent projects, and use intergenerational friendships to foster less isolation and more physical activity for those involved.

Windmill Hill Big Local Evaluation

We’ve been commissioned to evaluate the impact of the work done so far by Windmill Hill’s Big Local scheme, in order to give direction for the final few years of the partnership.

Digital Inclusion for Bramley Elderly Action

Bramley Elderly Action have commissioned ‘Your Back Yard’ to provide digital support for 30 of their members.

Men’s Film & TV Club

To get more men participating in online groups, ‘Your Back Yard’ are hosting a Film and TV club exclusively for older men.

Social Entrepreneurship Training

We provided training sessions for social entrepreneurs in the Wakefield area, covering everything from marketing to the legalities.

Feasibility Work for Windmill Hill

In October 2020, we were asked by the Windmill Hill Big Local to undertake a feasibility study into whether a renewable heating system or a community bike scheme could be potential major capital projects for Windmill Hill Big Local to pursue as part of their final plan.

Getting Active and Online

In August 2020, we received the funding from Awards for All to help get older people digitally literate and physically fit, whilst reducing social isolation.

Rudheath and Witton Together Big Local

In Autumn 2020, we were commissioned to help RWT write their final 5 community plan.

Weekly Walking Football Sessions in Bramley

Time to Shine funded ‘Your Back Yard’ in September 2019 to run walking football sessions in partnership with Bramley Elderly Action. Since then, we’ve got an established team, the ‘Bramley Walking Wanderers’ and we have a great turn out every week!

Walking Sports Taster Sessions In Leeds

In Summer 2019, Sports England funded us to provide around 15 older people’s Neighbourhood Networks from across Leeds with sports taster sessions.

Heights and Bawns

In Spring 2020, ‘Your Back Yard’ was commissioned to lead a project across the Heights and Bawns area to improve people’s physical health and well-being and to bring together people of all ages and sectors of the community.

Windmill Hill Big Local

In March 2020 ‘Your Back Yard’ was commissioned by Windmill Hill Big Local to help them write their new 5 year plan. Future plans include creating a community hub in the church, more activities for locals and looking after the woodland.

Greenmoore Big Local

We spent a few weeks back in the summer working with the Greenmoor Big Local on a feasibility study into their options for incorporation, finding a community base for their activities and securing long term funding.

Beechwood, Ballantyne and Bidston Village Big Local

A team of staff and associates from Your Back Yard worked on a project in partnership with the Beechwood, Ballantyne, and Bidston Village Big Local, based in The Wirral. We consulted with stakeholders, got feedback on the draft through a ‘mini-roadshow’ and communicated the plan through flyers.

Stanningley Skatepark

In response to an online petition started in 2017 by a local campaigner, Your Back Yard decided to take on the challenge of helping local residents in Stanningley to build a new skatepark in Stanningley Park. All of our research has now been passed over to Leeds City Council, we hope to hear updates of progress soon!

Healthy Living Park Brackenhill

In October 2018, Tony met with the Friends of Brackenhill Park group to discuss the work Your Back Yard did with Wibsey Park in 2017/18, with the view of running similar events in Brackenhill Park next summer. We consulted over 200 stakeholders, from councillors to primary school children, and are looking for funding to fulfill their requests.

Social Networks To Combat Loneliness

In light of the Jo Cox Loneliness Commission, and from observing life in our local communities, it became clear that social isolation is one of the biggest issues that faces individuals today. We are planning on working with Barca-Leeds to create social networks centered mainly around shared interests.

Ground Source Heat Pumps

Your Back Yard, EbTech and Kensa have been working together to put together a feasibility study into the possibility of using green spaces as a source of renewable energy, whilst solving the issue of waterlogged pitches. Thus would be a major capital investment with equally major payoffs for anyone wanting to take this forward!

Free Healthy Living Activities For Over 50s

Thanks to funding from Sport England, we have been able to organise a programme of free healthy living events targeted at inactive over 50s in the LS6/West Leeds area. Click to discover the range of activities on offer!

Cardigan Centre, Burley

Your Back Yard helped the Cardigan Centre in Leeds to develop a business plan, as well as research new ways they could bid for and fund resources.

Bradford Audit Project

Your Back Yard won a tender to work with Bradford Council and Born in Bradford to find out how to get more children and young people, including their families, more physically active in Bradford.

Highfields Country Park, Doncaster

In May 2017, Your Back Yard was commissioned by New Routes to help in proving the evidence base for an action plan of improvements for Highfields Country park.

Bramley Falls Healthy Living Park, West Leeds

In June 2017, Your Back Yard were awarded £5,000 from Leeds City Council’s ‘Well Being’ fund to run a Healthy Living Park programme in Bramley Fall park, 4 miles west of the city centre

Wibsey Park, Bradford

We consulted to the community to find out what activities they’d like to see in the park, and carried out the delivery of this programme over 12 months.

Haw Hill Healthy Living Park, Normanton

We ran a programme of activities in Haw Hill park based off feedback, which included Zumba, street dance, family picnics, cycling, multi-sports sessions, Tai Chi, and some activities targeted at those with physical or mental health issues

Refurbishment of St John’s Play Area, Northwich, Cheshire

We were commissioned by Rudheath Parish Council to find funding to refurbish a well used but out of date play area in Rudheath, near Northwich in Cheshire.

Wingrove Maker Markets

We run two training courses to support people to develop craft and food products for local markets, with the Greening Wingrove and Arthurs Hill CIC.

Community Led Local Development Strategy for Hull

Together with NESEP, we prepared a strategy to guide the investment of potential EU funding in Community Led Local Development in Hull.

Springwell Community Memory Garden

Silverline Memories, a dementia support charity, was in the process of taking on a former community garden in Springwell, Gateshead. We helped them to develop a business plan for its operation.

Newbiggin Golf Club Community Hub

We are helping to inform a new community hub by consulting residents to see what activities would be popular.

Armley, Leeds

We supported Leeds Federated Housing Association in the Wythers area of Armley to carry out a community engagement exercise.

Unity Hall, Nelson

We were appointed to undertake a feasibility study and prepare a Management Plan for Unity Hall, Nelson in Lancashire. A run down building with a proud past, we assessed local demand and prepared a set of recommendations for the building’s future development.

Peoples Park, Halifax

Peoples Park in Halifax was suffering from a poor reputation despite recent funding. So, were commissioned to develop a programme of healthy living activities to encourage the community to use the park together.

University of Leeds Family Archive Project

Your Back Yard supported The University of Leeds in their ‘Family Archive’ project. The aim of exploring past generations stories through artifacts like photographs, heirlooms, scrapbooks and recipes to keep their narratives alive for generations to come.  We connected the researchers at the university with local communities, particularly in Seacroft. […]

Treetop Village, Walker

We investigated the potential to create new community facilities as part of an exciting new approach to older people’s living.

Seaton Valley Village Plans

We are working with Seaton Valley Council to prepare action plans for its five villages.

Haw Hill Park, Wakefield

We helped the Friends of Haw Hill Park to secure funding to carry out a pre-feasibility study, as part of a phased programme of improvements.

Shieldfield, Newcastle

Making Shieldfield Cleaner, Greener and Safer.

Great Lumley Community Centre

We helped Great Lumley Community Association and Great Lumley Parish Council plan to take on their community centre.

Byker Old Town, Newcastle

Developing an ‘Our Place’ Action Plan for Byker Old Town.

Easington Colliery Church of the Ascension

Working with Hugh Massey Architects, we carried out a Feasibility Study for the Church of the Ascension, a church in the village of Easington Colliery, East Durham.

Annfield Plain Community Centre

We were commissioned by the Residents Association to undertake a feasibility study into the long term viability of Annfield Plain Community Centre, County Durham.

South East Northumberland

With the help of local SE NESEP, we developed a community- led regeneration plan for the South EAst Northumberland area.

St Annes, Battlefield

On behalf of Newcastle City Council, we engaged people and organisations in the St Ann’s and Battlefield area of Newcastle in considering activities and improvements that they would like to see in their area.

Rastricks Parks and Play Areas

After community consultation, we set out to improve the play areas and green spaces in Rastricks, West Yorkshire.