What an evening!

On Thursday 23 April 2026, we hosted our annual CELEBRATION EVENT at the NSC Arena in Loughborough.  It is probably the most important event in the calendar but it was definitely the most moving, inspiring and fun event.

There were 250 people in the room supporting and celebrating the 100 young people that came along.  We love having the opportunity to celebrate just how far our young people have come and to recognise the confidence, resilience and growth they continue to show.

Huge congratulations to our award winners:

• Leicestershire Champion Award went to Poppy.
• Derby Champion Award went to Jasmeen.
• Leicester Champion Award went to Kia.

This year we were honoured to watch Imy receive her Highly Commended Award from the Office of the Lord Lieutenant - see article.

Our Youth Board told us what they have been up to, and then handed out some "awards" to our brilliant Youth Workers and Coordinators.

Interspersed between the awards, some very talented young people took to the stage - showing us their courage and resilience to perform in front of a room full of people.

• Faith sang and played her guitar.
• Neve gave a heartfelt rendition of Burn from the musical Hamilton by Lin-Manual Miranda.
• Jasmeen sang Halo by Beyonce.
• Lily Mai performed My Girls from the musical SIX by SVN Nation

Harriet, one of our Leicestershire Youth Workers, talked to us about her upcoming London Marathon (which she completed in style).

Emily talked to us about her journey with Love4Life.  From her struggles with body image, self-judgement and shame, to her 1:2:1s with one of our Youth Workers, Sophie, and the most powerful lesson she learnt: “I can't hate myself into a version I love”.  Love4Life not only supports young people during our sessions, groups and 1:2:1s, but we also give them the tools to recognise what is happening and to understand why they feel that way, even after our support has ended.  Struggling doesn't mean you have failed, it just means you are human. 

"Thank you for creating a space where girls can learn they are perfect exactly as they are."

Finally, a huge thank you to our sponsors: