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Drum roll please!

We are delighted to announce our chosen charity for our FM Comedy Night is Trailblazers, an amazing organisation set up to help mentor young offenders and put them on the right track for the future.

Established in 1998, Trailblazers is a national charity dedicated to providing encouragement to offenders through weekly one-to-one meetings with fully trained volunteer mentors. The individuals that Trailblazers works with are typically aged between 18 and 25, with the primary focus being to prevent them from reoffending through the process of support and mentoring.

Trailblazers’ aim is to empower and inspire their mentees to discover their true potential and encourage them to have a positive impact on their society rather than a negative one. This fantastic charity provides a wide range of support including support on the day of their release, setting up bank accounts and applying for accommodation. Aside from this, there are many other ways in which Trailblazers help, in terms of building self-esteem, confidence and helping them choose a better path. A typical timeline would see offenders start their mentoring journey around six months before release and continue for 12 months after. Of course, this varies depending on each individual.

Before the pandemic, Trailblazers’ services were predominantly centred in the six young offender institutions and prisons in which their projects are embedded. But, despite the pandemic, they have expanded, opening new community hubs and working in partnership with other charities, social enterprises and commercial organisations. They currently offer support to around 180 individuals annually, but this number is expected to grow with the expansion of the charity. At the moment, they have three projects in London, two in the West Midlands and one in Buckinghamshire.

So there you have it. We can’t wait to work alongside Trailblazers to raise money for this fantastic charity. We will be keeping you updated on our process of working with Trailblazers, and our comedian line-up, so stay tuned! You can expect to hear from us again in the coming weeks, keeping you up to date and providing you with all the information you need.

Now we have confirmed our chosen charity, we can’t wait to see you on the 16^th November. Click here to purchase your tickets if you haven’t already!