Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Kathryn Holloway, said “a huge thank you” to the organisations who have posted daily activities for young people for her on YouTube throughout lockdown and the school holidays, as The James Campbell Collective reached close to 5,000 views.
The James Campbell Collective was first launched by the PCC in May (Monday 4) and was aimed at 10 to 25-year-olds, with daily sessions being either streamed or uploaded each day from Monday to Friday. The service was coordinated and introduced by professional personal fitness trainer and body builder James and included Luton Town Football Club training sessions, boxing for exercise, cooking and baking on a budget, chess tutorials and dance. In four months, contributors have produced 350 videos and the channel has received 4,965 views.
The PCC said: “I’m absolutely delighted by the success of the YouTube channel which was launched at a time when pupils and students were not even in schools and colleges or attending youth and community clubs to let them know it was happening. Yet we managed with the fantastic support of those behind all these venues to spread the word and build an audience registering nearly 5,000 views. If any single youth club provided for hard to reach young people had been attended 5,000 times, I’m sure those running it would be ecstatic.
“The whole idea was to give young people in Bedfordshire something constructive to do during lockdown or the school holidays, whichever turned out to be longer, and the way things have turned out I’m so pleased that my office and I got up and delivered for them right at the outset, without hanging around to see what would happen at such an unprecedented time of pressures for us all and young people in particular; cut off from their friends, social lives and education.
James Campbell said: “I would say that The JCC has been very successful and I’m grateful for the opportunity it gave me. We can tell through the statistics that we have reached a lot of young people and I hope that we have had a positive impact on them. I hope it will inspire other collectives delivering a range of activities, similar to this one in future.”
The initiative has given other organisations who are newly established, the ability to find and reach young people despite the restrictions faced as a result of Covid-19 measures such as the lockdown and social distancing.
The final sessions for the James Campbell Collective were uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, September 1. The James Campbell Collective channel will remain accessible on YouTube for anyone wishing to catch up on the sessions at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBBGBdJgnvMHd25wW7aqVUQ
