| About BYB Foundation |
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Rock Challenge® UK is presented by the Be Your Best Foundation.
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The aim of the Be Your Best Foundation is to encourage young people to lead healthy lifestyles and to be their best without the need for tobacco, alcohol or other drugs.
Rock Challenge® UK is part of the Global Rock Challenge™ and is the foundation's main activity every year for promoting this cause. | |
Vision
The vision of the Be Your Best Foundation is to contribute to improving the quality of life for all of society by encouraging young people to take an active role in building safe and healthy communities. | |
Mission Statement
To support initiatives that contribute to:
* the reduction of drug misuse and crime amongst young people;
* the advancement of education and - particularly - the education of children and young people in the value of discipline, hard work and good citizenship;
* the promotion of health and the prevention of sickness, particularly that caused by or related to alcohol, tobacco, drug use or any other aspect of modern lifestyles which are prejudicial to health;
* the provision of facilities for recreation and positive leisure time activities.
At the present time the sole project of the Foundation has been to facilitate the production and expansion of Rock Challenge® in the United Kingdom. | |
Directors
E.D. (STRATIS) ZOGRAPHOS
A retired (since 2004) senior executive with extensive and varied experience in the manufacturing, distributive, leisure, television broadcasting and advertising industries. A demonstrated record of turn-around and ensuring sound financial bases and healthy cash positions. Retired Fellow member of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
MERVYN BISHOP
Mervyn served as an officer in Humberside Police for thirty years, retiring in November 2000. During this time he performed a wide variety of roles including membership of the Regional Crime Squad Drugs Wing investigating both national and international drug trafficking. During the later part of his service he was involved in community relations, the supervision of the Lifestyle project, management of several drug-related projects and the introduction of Rock Challenge.
On leaving the police Mervyn worked as a development manager for Neighbourhood Watch until taking over as the Chief Executive of Victim Support Humber in 2003. Mervyn is still with Victim Support but in 2009 his role was enhanced and he is now the Divisional Manager covering the whole of the Humber and North Yorkshire area. He has been involved with Rock Challenge since 1996 and has been the driving force in the Humber area.
IAN READHEAD
Ian retired as the Deputy Chief Constable of the Hampshire Constabulary in 2008 after 34 years with the Force . He was a member of the original Chief Police Officer group that initially brought Rock Challenge from Australia. He now works for the Association of Chief Police Officers as their Director of Information.
GEORGE COOIL
George Cooil’s initial involvement with Rock Challenge® was as an officer of the Isle of Wight Education Authority and as the parent of two daughters who had participated in a number of Rock Challenge® events. He has been a teacher, a head teacher, a school inspector and an Assistant Director of Education. He now works as an independent consultant supporting a range of agencies in the statutory and non-statutory sectors.
JUNO HOLLYHOCK
Juno is currently the National Communications Manager for Oasis Community Learning and was UK producer for the UK Rock Challenge® between June 1999 and June 2003, joining the Board of Directors in May 2003. Juno's professional background includes the management of a range of youth arts projects within wider young people's programmes, and general event management of a range of large-scale projects, She has also worked for a local authority, commissioning services for vulnerable children and young people.
PAUL GODFREY
Paul first became involved with the Be Your Best Foundation in 1999 through Ansvar’s sponsorship of the Rock Challenge®. He was asked in June 2004 to join the Board upon his retirement after forty years with the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group. Having held various management appointments during his career throughout the UK, with brief spells in Ireland and Canada and ten years in the City, for the last five years Paul was the Managing Director of the Ansvar Insurance Company (an EIG subsidiary) in Eastbourne. Being a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Coopers, his City interests continue. Paul serves on a number of Coopers’ committees including the Charities Committee (Deputy Chairman), the Coopers’ Livery House Fund (since its inception in 1995) and the Court since 2002, serving as Master in 2010-11. Other charitable involvement is in care of the elderly and servicemen disability.
JAN CLARKE
Previously a teacher for more than 25 years, Jan has recently been made redundant from her work as Health Education Advisory Teacher/ Healthy Schools Co-ordinator for Children’s Services, Cumbria (a post she held for fourteen years) following the withdrawal of central funding for the National Healthy Schools Programme. Within the Healthy Schools Team Jan was responsible for Sex and Relationships Education, Emotional Health and Well-being, and Economic Well being and Financial Capability, whilst also maintaining holistic responsibility for those schools in the West of the County, of which there are approximately 115. This meant working at both operational and strategic level with all sectors of school communities and linked agencies. Jan was also been a National Assessor for the National PSHE CPD Programme from its inception in 2003 to its demise in 2010 and was the identified lead in Cumbria for teachers undertaking the programme. She has also worked on behalf of the PSHE Association as a Regional Subject Advisor for PSHE Education in Cumbria and the North East. Her interest in Rock Challenge began in 1997 when the Chief Constable asked the Education Department in Cumbria to take on the development of the initiative there; that interest and enthusiasm has never wavered.
SUE HITCHENOR
Sue is a successful and committed leader in the NHS, with a strong reputation ,and a track record of delivery and achievement. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant, and has been in the NHS since 1990, holding Director positions since 1997 in provider and commissioner organisations. Her current role is as Managing Director of Finance, Performance and Information / Deputy CEO at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, where she is responsible for a budget of £260m.
She is motivated by a desire to see measurable improvement in health outcomes, particularly in the areas of mental health and children’s services. Throughout her career she has taken a strong interest in training and development initiatives, and has won a number of awards for the quality of the services her teams have provided.
BARONESS RUTH HENIG
Baroness Ruth Henig was senior lecturer in History and Dean of Arts and Humanities at Lancaster University until taking early retirement in 2002. She also had a parallel career in local government, serving for over twenty years as a Lancashire County Councillor, chair of the Lancashire Police Authority and as a local magistrate. She chaired the national Association of Police Authorities from its inception in 1997 until 2005, and served as a member of a number of Home Office and government bodies, including the Lawrence Steering Group, the Street Crime Action Group and the National Criminal Justice Board. She is now the chair of the Security Industry Authority. She received the CBE for services to policing in 2000, and was appointed as a Life Peer in May 2004. She is the Parliamentary champion for the Seashell Trust, of Cheadle Hulme and for Claire House children’s hospice which is on the Wirral.
LADY SARAH MCCORQUODALE
Lady Sarah McCorquodale became a Patron last year following her year as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, during which time she first became aware of Rock Challenge and Be Your Best Foundation, being extremely impressed with both the talent and enthusiasm on display. She is Deputy High Steward of Lincoln Cathedral and a Trustee of The Lincolnshire Bomber Command Memorial Committee. She is also the President of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. | |
BYBF and Rock Challenge®
The functions of the Be Your Best Foundation in relation to The Rock Challenge® are to:
* secure national and local, statutory, commercial and charitable funding for the event;
* facilitate the formation of partnerships between relevant national and local commercial and charitable agencies, and
* build suitable networks through which The Rock Challenge® can be extended towards the interim target of involving 500 schools and 30,000 young people by 2015.
These functions continue throughout the year and lead up to the production of the Rock Challenge® events that take place annually between February and June. The Rock Challenge® could not operate throughout the country without the financial support and expertise of the Foundation.
The Rock Challenge® is an international anti-drug and crime prevention initiative that takes the form of a performing arts competition for secondary schools. It was introduced into the UK by the Hampshire Constabulary in 1996 and has since grown to the extent that in 2011 22,000 7-to-18 year old students from 320 school teams performed in 44 events staged throughout England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Rock Challenge® delivers anti-drug and crime-prevention messages to the heart of teenage culture by using music, dance, fashion and media images that are familiar and attractive to large numbers of young people. The event captures the imagination of young people, providing them with an exciting and unique opportunity to experience the 'drug-free high' of performing in a supportive and professional environment with over 100 of their fellow school students, rehearsing in a supportive and professional environment and in the company of from 500 to over 1000 of their contemporaries, before then going on to perform their piece in an evening show that increasingly is played to sellout audiences.
The BYBF and its directors are convinced The Rock Challenge® is an ideal method of addressing the issues of drug and substance misuse with young people, allowing them the opportunity to see that by hard work, commitment and team work they can obtain a drug-free "high". Feedback from participating schools indicates that the use of tobacco products, alcohol and other drugs is reduced or stops entirely among participating students, Australian research shows that schools participating in Rock Challenge® have significantly lower proportions of students who have ever tried drugs or been drunk, and an independent report carried out after the 2009 National Grand Final not only supports these findings but goes on to point out that team members achieve higher attendance and higher staying-on rates than others in their schools.
Though the prime aims of the Be Your Best Rock Challenge® are drug and crime prevention, the 2011 tour again demonstrated the potential of the event to bring together young people and communities from different national and cultural backgrounds by continuing to attract entries from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, whilst the Global Rock Challenge® has spread from Australia, New Zealand and the UK into Germany, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.
Participation seems to enthuse young Britons to take their performances even further afield. UK teams have taken part in The Rock Challenge® in Dresden, Germany, teams from Hull and East Yorkshire have travelled to Australia in order to showcase their productions, and a team from Farnborough regularly travelled to Tokyo in order to perform at that nation's Rock Challenge®.
Through the production of the Rock Challenge® the Foundation seeks to provide its benefits to all young people regardless of their ability or their social and economic situation.
The Directors are therefore particularly pleased to report the involvement of 15 schools catering for pupils with special needs in 2011. This demonstrates the accessibility of the event and its ability to provide equal and unique opportunities to every young person. Young people from these schools were able to take part on an equal basis with mainstream pupils and the quality of their performances and the enthusiastic response of the audiences bore testament to their ability and the dedication of their teachers and families.
In furtherance of the aims of the Foundation, the Directors continue to be keen to sustain and extend the Rock Challenge® in areas that are acknowledged to be particularly disadvantaged or deprived.
The Be Your Best Rock Challenge® event has been staged annually in the United Kingdom since 1996 and during that time has gradually expanded. Unfortunately the resources available to meet the considerable demand have been limited due to the difficulty in obtaining funding. If the Be Your Best Rock Challenge® is to continue and be able to extend its proven benefits to the maximum number of communities it is essential that its value is recognised and supported by secure and substantial on-going funding.
The Directors are also pleased to report the continuation of the extension of The Rock Challenge® into Primary Schools. Nearly 90 Primary school teams (involving over 5,000 participants) took part in 2011: some, without a Junior Event remotely near them, were still determined to participate, opting instead to do showcase performances at Senior events. | |
Foundation structure and contacts
The Be Your Best Foundation is a Company Limited by Guarantee (Registration Number 3553440) and a Registered Charity (Number 1077291). A Memorandum and Articles of Association dated the 27th April 1998 govern the operation of the Foundation. The Foundation is recognised by the Inland Revenue as an approved charity for tax purposes, the reference number being XR 33678.
Registered Office:
Wessex House
Upper Market Street
Eastleigh
Hampshire
SO50 9FD
Phone: 02380 617753
Fax: 02380 617740
Email:manager@bybf.org.uk |
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