Lorraine Bliss MBE: Helping the young people 'often left behind'

It’s a place that you probably wouldn’t pass on your daily business in the city; you’d have to go there and know where you were going. But behind the ordinariness of the façade, lies an extraordinary charity.

The admin offices of the St Edmunds Society sit afront a network of workshops and studios, salons and IT suites. This is the training ground for young people who seem to have fallen between the gaps in the education system, but all with so much to offer the world of work.

St Edmunds plucks them from those gaps, gives them skills and confidence, a trade, and a future.

Big moments

The walls of Lorraine’s office are adorned with photographs of moments of pride and passion in her life; Charlie George with the FA Cup in 1971, Dennis Bergkamp is there too, and other notable Gunners. She later acknowledges she’s an Arsenal season-ticket holder, “with the trials and tribulations that inevitably brings.”

There are also photographs of another proud moment; receiving her MBE in 2018 in recognition of her work with young people.

It is a squally February morning when I meet Lorraine, but there’s a warm welcome from the St Edmunds receptionist and a strong cup of coffee – all punctuated by the arrival of young people signing in to the training facility – as we begin our conversation.

Born onto a Walthamstow council estate in north-east London and a comprehensive school education, Lorraine tells me how she began work as a secretary in the city and later gravitated north along the AI to Stevenage, Eaton Socon and Peterborough as her husband Alan’s work moved.

Taking a right along the A47 eventually brought her to Norfolk, where she joined St Edmunds more than 30 years ago and has since played a pivotal role in transforming the charity.

“Today, St Edmunds, or St Eds as we are known, provides vocational training opportunities for young people who for one reason or another have failed within, or been let down by, the traditional education system and are not in school or further education,” she explains.

Lorraine’s journey

In her earlier secretarial career, Lorraine had little connection with young people and the problems they faced. But as her personal journey from London to Peterborough and Norfolk evolved, and her two children were born, she began looking for something different to do in the mid-80s.

“I volunteered at a drop-in centre for young people in Peterborough, originally doing administration, but they noticed I had an affinity for the issues surrounding the young and their plight and soon had me involved in their day-to-day problems as a supporter and advocate.”

When the family moved to Norfolk with Alan’s career in construction in 1991, Lorraine applied for a job with a local charity, which she didn’t get, but a member of the interview panel recommended her to St Edmunds, where she was offered the role as Resettlement Officer, working with homeless young people. She later succeeded the retiring project manager, and three decades later is CEO.

Sticking plaster

Taking its name from a building the charity was initially attached to, St Edmunds offers meaningful trade-related qualifications, such as City & Guilds, leading – hopefully - to employment for young people.

It started as an accommodation project for 13 young men in a house on Earlham Road, but Lorraine increasingly felt that element of the project was “merely a sticking plaster” on the problem.

“The common theme,” she continues, “was that most homeless young people had few skills and poor education through no fault of their own. So, if we could help to provide them transferable skills and qualifications, and in doing so, give them a means from which they could gain employment and earn money, then we may in time reduce the burden of youth homelessness. From that belief, St Eds Training was born.”

A workshop was set up in a small shed, where they started to teach carpentry skills coupled with English and Maths and found that young people adapted to doing vocational skills.

Refocus on training

This grew, with St Eds eventually expanding into larger premises in Bull Close, Norwich, and continuing with the hostel until restrictions introduced in 2012 meant it was no longer viable for St Eds to be a hostel.

“As a result, I convinced the then trustee board to sell the house and refocus and invest the money into training instead,” she adds.

“This represented something of a gamble, but I’m pleased to say they supported my idea and hence we now run a centre for 150 young people each week, offering a multitude of vocational skills, with almost no statutory or local authority assistance. Without us, most, if not all these young people, would have nowhere to go each day, and would largely be lost to society.

“This place exists to give young people hope to prepare them for work. Construction is the core subject, where we offer bricklaying, paving and brick weave, plastering and dry lining, painting and decorating, tiling, bench and site carpentry and we are introducing a new plumbing area. We also offer hair and beauty, health and social care, catering and hospitality, and motor vehicles training.

“That is combined with maths and English so they gain a level of academic ability to carry them on their journey to employment.”

Not ‘school-shaped’

Funding for St Edmunds Society remains complex, as it receives no direct statutory funding. It has arrangements with local schools to accommodate those who it is felt would benefit from alternative vocational training rather than a traditional curriculum, with other funding raised through traditional methods and the support of charitable trusts.

It provides a study programme for those aged 14 to 18 through a Prime Provider funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, while young people aged 19 to 24 with an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) are also catered for.

Expanding on the role of the charity, Lorraine suggests: “Many young people are simply not ‘school-shaped’ and struggle and fall behind in that environment despite the best efforts of all concerned.

“With few or no qualifications they find it difficult to find their place in society and often are left behind.”

Most young people being supported by St Eds are from “poorer disconnected and deprived backgrounds” yet while some may have limited reading and writing skills, Lorraine maintains many have a “talent which has never been nurtured” and can be trained with valuable skills and plus that skills gaps in several trades.

While St Eds focuses on the positives, it faces challenges as it operates outside the traditional education sphere and in an arena where the problems of the young are not widely recognised by the authorities and society.

COVID impact

Inevitably, COVID-19 has had an impact and saw the centre closed for a period.

“It has been catastrophic,” concedes Lorraine. “As in education collectively, we have seen a pronounced and worrying deterioration in the problems of young people since the onset of the pandemic.”

That saw St Eds, as primarily a vocational training centre, have to endeavour to change its delivery methods to online remote learning to enable it to remain in contact with students and learners.

But that proved difficult with a lack of equipment such as laptops and trainees unable to gain internet access.

The charity did not qualify for statutory support either as it is not formally recognised as an education provider.

“However,” continues Lorraine, “with help and generous support from donors, we were able to maintain some levels of support and have done so throughout.

“What we have also seen is the effect that the pandemic has had on the lives and mental health of the young people we help. Our welfare support team has so far been involved in three times the number of social interventions than we have seen in previous years, and this continues to grow almost weekly. Many of those young people find themselves in a bad place through the interruptions they have encountered to their young lives.”

Plans and rewards

As for future plans, Lorraine’s passion for supporting young people will not diminish.

“I have the support of my family and I’m fortunate that I have a very strong and committed team and trustee board at St Eds. Naturally retirement beckons, but I can’t quite see myself in an armchair and slippers whilst there is still work to be done.

“It really is all about the young people and what they achieve. I very much like to see them and their confidence grow every day and when you consider that we entertain more than 150 young people a week at St Eds, the sense of pride we all get is the reason we come to work.

“Every year at our annual presentation it is a reward to see the smiles on the faces of the young people and their families when their name is called and they are invited to come forward and collect their Diplomas and Certificates in their various disciplines.”

In the latest ceremony, the Lord Mayor of Norwich and the High Sheriff of Norfolk were on stage.

“So many young people were in awe that important people like that had time for them for the first time ever in their lives,” she notes.

“For most it was the first time they had achieved anything worthwhile, and the sense of pride is overwhelming and makes all our efforts so satisfying.”

St Eds, which employs 37 people, is also in the finals of the prestigious 2022 Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Awards, which recognises charities that are innovative in tackling poverty and exclusion in Britain.

In addition, there are plans to expand as a charity and open another St Eds in Thetford.

Confirmed cruiser

Alan, her husband of 50 years this September, has been her “rock and an incredible support” in her life with St Eds over more than 30 years and as a HR director and consultant, he became a trustee of St Eds when he retired in 2013.

The couple live near Dereham and have two children: Nick, who is vice-principal at Acle High School; and Tara, who is a social worker and a manager with Norfolk County Council Children’s Services, after herself doing a stint at St Eds.

“I can switch off when I need to and enjoy the love I have around me,” says Lorraine. “I also have three granddaughters aged three, five and seven and nothing gives me more pleasure than being with them and watching them grow.”

When not working, Lorraine and Alan enjoy travelling and are confirmed “cruisers”, enjoying breaks on ocean-going liners and they like walking with their Boxer dog, Ruben, and remain passionate Arsenal fans.

She also keeps a bird aviary in her garden and breeds canaries and finches, which gives her great pleasure and helps her relax.

Training labyrinth

A career highlight was the trip to Buckingham Palace for her investiture as a Member of the British Empire by Prince William.

“It was a most fantastic experience and he was so interested in what we do” she says. “Who would have thought that a girl from a council estate in Walthamstow could have achieved such an honour in her lifetime? It is ample evidence that whatever your start in life, you can do wonders if you really believe in yourself.

“When I retire - though I don’t think I ever will - I want St Eds to have stability forever so that kids that are not academic will be able to recognise there are opportunities for them and that they can make a really good living in something that they may not have considered when they were in the education system.”

From there, we leave Lorraine’s office and she ushers me into a training labyrinth of motorcycles and cars being worked on, a carpentry area, hairdressing and beauty salons, a computer suite, bricks being laid and tutors passing on expertise from all of these trades, giving young people their first step on the working ladder of life.

st-eds.org

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