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The Story So Far

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Timeline of E2M so far

April 2018 - Jenny Natusch had the idea for E2M

Jenny Natusch

The idea of E2M came about because there was very little for 11-18’s to do in Lancaster & Morecambe after school (especially for young people who don’t play sports).

We asked around..

An initial survey of 200 young people showed that 83% wanted more friends and 79% wanted somewhere safe to go after school.

We needed a plan..

Some volunteers came together to form a
shadow board to help set up as a charity.

We told lots of people..

It then came apparent that local businesses (e.g. bakers, ice cream makers, Jo & Cass hairdressers, yoga teachers) and national businesses (e.g. The Body Shop and Lush) and several local artists were all really willing to help.

September 2018 - we tried it out

bread-making workshop

A few ideas were tried out around Lancaster and the feedback was incredible. 98.5% respondents answered 4 or 5 out of 5 when asked how much they enjoyed the workshop. 94.9% answered 4 or 5 out of 5 when asked if they would recommend it to their friends.

And we made a video

Some teenagers filmed the free workshops and their film was shown days later at an NHS Young Peoples Conference and was really well received.

e2m-video-shooting

The film then won support from Lancaster City Council, Albright Lawyers, Lancaster BID, the BBC and several senior people at Lancaster University.

We got funded!

The film also helped to win us £25k funding from 6 different places so we could get going as an organisation and fund more free workshops in June and July 2019 and make a short film/advert for the charity.

Design of a new building has begun!

Vision Board

Our vision board has already started to meet and develop ideas for creating a new exciting building for E2M!

May 2019 - We became a charity!

Our application to become a Charity was successful and Escape2Make is now Registered Charity Number 1183572.

August 2019 - Professor Dame Sue Black became Patron of the charity.

Professor Dame Sue Black

September 2019 - Launch Event Planning

A group of 20+ young people who have been involved in workshops went into production to produce a launch event in mid November. The event was attended by E2M supporters including the NHS, police, businesses, government, educational organisations, artists, volunteers and hard to reach groups.

2020 into 2021

Whilst the country was rocked by a global pandemic, the Escape2Make team used the time that we had to take a closer look at our core structure and business model. We welcomed three new board members, including a new Chair Person. We also welcomed our brand new Strategic Development Manager, Saul, who continues to help E2M look towards the future. Perhaps most importantly, we began our very own Youth Board, made up of nine young people who lead us forwards and ensure we never lose sight of our goals.

June 2021

Youth Board Started

E2M is passionate about being youth led and believe young people should be deeply listened to. Many of the young people from the cohort from past activities came together to form a board to steer the charity in the right direction. The Youth Board have a great deal of power in the charity – deciding on delivery, to helping write our vision, mission, values, theory of change, code of conduct, business plan and policies. They help to solve problems for the trustees, help shape bids and deliver presentations.

We don’t think this photo was from the first meeting in June!

July 2021

The beginning of our brand new Film Club and Press Club. Groups of young people were thrilled to return to in-person activity, kicking off our new ongoing clubs.

press club

April 2023

E2M Reveal Plans for a Youth Designed Building

We revealed plans for an E2M building. The designs have been worked on by young people from E2M’s architecture group over the past four years, with help from local architects HPA and more recently Urban Place Network.The centre will become a symbol of youth development and cultural regeneration, not only in Lancaster but also across the UK and beyond. Read more