Prince Harry at Sandy Park in Exeter for the 2015 Rugby World Cup meeting 16-24 year-olds of REEP legacy project
- Credit: PA
In 2015 the Rugby World Cup came to Exeter and Exeter City Council funded and ran some legacy projects, one of which was REEP, this stood for Rugby Empowering Employment Programme.
The programme invited 16 – 24 year-olds who were struggling to find work and the opportunity to attend a two-week programme to improve their confidence, communication, teamwork and employability skills. The programme went a step further in that it reached out to businesses to look for volunteer mentors, trained them prior to the start of the programme and paired the mentors with the young people, to offer ongoing, continued support and guidance after the end of the two weeks. Two cohorts ran very successfully, some of them even had the opportunity of meeting Prince Harry when he visited Sandy Park. So, to keep the legacy going I became a founding trustee of a new charity and REEP became BEEP – Business Empowering Employment Programme.