Y Factor celebrates talented young performers aged 13-21, eager for a chance to win some cash prizes to help them on their artistic journeys! With a huge number of auditions for Y Factor this year, just 22 were selected to perform last Saturday night, and the audience was not disappointed with the calibre of their […]
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is an awesome opportunity to celebrate one of Aotearoa’s three official languages – Te Reo Māori. People across the country are being inspired to learn more of this beautiful reo (language) as a means of connection and honouring Te Tiriti. Many of our Y Christchurch staff are on their […]
Our Y Fitness members will have noticed a familiar face in a new role over the past few weeks. Long-time Y staff member, cafe owner, and super passionate personal trainer Ken Yep recently took on the role of Y Fitness Supervisor. We sat down with him to hear about his first month in the role, […]
Grapple 2022 is a New Zealand first – a residential intensive ‘competition’ of the best young minds the country has to offer, with a view to not only providing participants with a platform to demonstrate their skills to but also to start to combat some real-world issues and problems. Architectus Grapple 2022 is calling for […]
Over the past two weeks, students have been coming to the 4C Centre to participate in a unique Scratch Built art programme – making familiar and iconic Christchurch scenes into miniature dioramas. Using a mix of materials including styrofoam, plywood, paint, plaster, and polymer clay, each diorama is made with careful attention to even the […]
Celebrating Raise Up’s first term in Ōtautahi We are celebrating our first full term as the Raise Up crew here in Christchurch! Our crew is made up of young people from high schools all over the city who are passionate about running events and making a difference in their communities. Our first full term as […]
Find something you love and keep doing it – that is the advice Kirstyn Steyaert gives to someone at the very start of their fitness journey. This is good advice, especially considering Kirstyn’s many, many years of experience in the fitness and wellbeing industry. Her passion for health and wellbeing has taken her across the […]
Amongst other things, the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki Bill includes disestablishing the role of Children’s Commissioner and despite huge opposition the Minister is charging ahead. Dear Children’s Commissioner, Ngā mihi Rangatira nui. Thank you. Thank you for the careful attention, wisdom and determination. The long hours, the battles and wars. The advice. The persuasive arguments. […]
Our City Build Our new building is beginning to rise from the ground and take shape. In this Y Vibe post, we share about the journey that got us here and the foundation work that has made this progress possible. Some of us are really enjoying seeing the concrete being poured and […]
Preschool Yoga at the Bishopdale Y Early Learning Centre The team at our Early Learning Centre in Bishopdale is super passionate about getting our tamariki on the move and giving them the best possible start in their relationship to exercise and movement. This is where the idea for Preschool Yoga stemmed from, a unique and […]
Holidays at the Y It’s that time of year again – enrolments are opening up for the next set of school holidays. We thought this might be a good time to share a snippet of the philosophies and values that make our Y programmes unique. To us, holiday programmes and camps are about more than […]
There are many moments in a young person’s life that help to determine what kind of person they will be – encouraging words from teachers or youth workers, comments from peers, being given extra responsibility. Great leaders can be made from these early moments. For Isla Kennedy, it seems to be a series of many […]
On Christmas Eve, 2013, Stuart Dallow died. That is, he had a heart attack and was unable to breathe on his own for 45 minutes. This came two weeks after he had made a commitment to get fit and get back into the gym. “We had been through a rough two years following the earthquakes […]
Raise Up is the Y’s youth development programme run by youth for youth, operating around New Zealand. At Raise Up, young people plan and deliver events, workshops and community outreaches for their peers. The programme is influenced by the principles of mana, hauora, commitment, whanaungatanga, empathy and empowerment. It has seen huge success around New […]
This week our hotel, Hotel Give, was awarded the 3-Star Gold Sustainable Tourism Business Award from Qualmark. This really special accomplishment is thanks to the vision of our staff and management team who, over the past few years, have propelled us towards more sustainable practices and outcomes. This accomplishment also gave us reason to reflect […]
It is a nerve-wracking moment for many parents to watch their child walk into preschool for the very first time. That experience is softened by the knowledge that they are in the hands of good and caring teachers. Mel Gebbie is one of these great teachers, possessing huge amounts of optimism and empathy, not to […]
Here at the Y we are strong believers that happy, positive communities are made up of individuals who make their health and wellbeing a priority. But it can often be really difficult to find practical ways to do this, especially when each new day or news story contains something to throw us off guard. The […]
What happens when you get a bunch of tech-savvy young people in a room and challenge them to solve some of the biggest issues currently facing our businesses? Something pretty cool, as it turns out. This Wednesday and Thursday our 4C Centre hosted the first sprint of the iNVENTIONATOR design challenge. Powered by CORE Education, […]
What is needed to make taro grow in Ōtautahi? Soil, water, warmth, humidity? This is just one of the questions designed to get members creating unique design solutions at the YMCA’s 4C Centre. Hadassah Timo is one of these young people. She visits a few times a week to work on different projects like her […]
We get it. We are parents too. It takes the wisdom of Solomon sometimes, to know what is ‘more’ safe, and what is ‘less’ safe. And wisdom is not easy to come by in a world where the information overload about what should or should not happen, what must or must not happen, or simply […]
Mother-son duo Dorothy and Blake encapsulate everything the YMCA values – family, relationships, and investing in the next generation. Dorothy radiates this positive energy and enthusiasm about her role in the front of house at Hotel Give. “In a front line role you don’t need to know everything but you need to know who to […]
The 4C Centre is a free-to-access makerspace where young people have 24/7 access to technology such as 3D printing, virtual reality, laser cutters, robotics, and all the latest editing and design software. It is a unique and meaningful part of our charitable outputs and represents our wider vision of breaking down the barriers between youth […]
Efficient and generous-spirited, Alex is a cornerstone of the Christchurch YMCA. Born and raised in Germany, he trained and worked at hotels in Switzerland and the United States before settling here in New Zealand in 2009. He arrived in Christchurch on a Sunday morning and had a 6-month lease secured on an apartment by Tuesday […]
Under the Covid Protection Framework. As of 12.59pm Sunday 23 January, New Zealand has moved into RED in the new COVID Protection Framework. The YMCA Christchurch will continue to operate our business as normal, but we would like to remind our members and participants of a few things in relation to life in RED. All […]
Just before Christmas we invited a group of young artists from high schools around Christchurch to participate in the design and painting of a large mural at our city site.
For all who venture into Bean at the Y, Fran Basher’s smiling face is a sign that great coffee and friendly service are close by. From her spot behind the coffee machine she has watched the City Y change over the last ten years.
Great intentions and poor execution is how many of us can probably can describe our New Year’s fitness goals. There is something about the turn of the year that tempts us into making lofty goals and big promises. But come mid-year (or even February), these goals are long-forgotten or dismissed as products of holiday optimism. […]
