'Youth group helped my confidence to be myself'

"I tried really hard to fit in.... everyone else had their friends, they had their groups and I didn't have that, so it was really difficult," 13-year-old Libby recalled before she began attending music and drama groups at a youth club.

Three years ago Libby's mother suggested she take part in activities offered at Level Two Youth Project on Cobbold Road in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

"I was quite shy when I first started, so I didn't really talk to anyone. I met a few of the youth workers and they were all really lovely and then it just became part of my weekly routine," she said.

For over 30 years the charity said it has been helping children and young people, aged from seven to 25, to "build confidence, find support and reach their potential".

Libby said she has also received one-to-one mentoring at the charity to help her manage her mental health.

"I still have anxiety but I know how deal with it and I've got different strategies that I've worked on with my mentors.

"I think there's a massive difference between how I used to be and how I am now," she added.

The Level Two Youth Project is one of 11 organisations in Suffolk receiving grants from BBC Children in Need (CiN).

CiN said its grants nationwide have totalled £775,950 and helped 4,000 children and young people last year.

Shez Hopkins, the chief executive of Level Two Youth Project, said the charity received a grant of £44,541 to support its drama and music sessions, and low-sensory sessions, called Equals, for younger children who benefit from a calmer, more structured environment.

"CiN have been long-standing committed funders of the work of Level Two Youth Project over many years.

"They are multi-year funders, which for us are getting harder to secure," she said.

Earlier this year, Level Two Youth Project opened a new facility called The Seagull in four reconditioned shipping containers next to Beach Street in Felixstowe.

Libby says she is also part of a choir at the youth group, which performed alongside prog-rock artist Rick Wakeman at the 2026 Suffolk Day concert in St Edmundsbury Cathedral in June.

"My confidence has definitely gone up and I think that that's helped me in other things that I do as well," Libby told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"I know that I don't have to fit in boxes to know that I belong... I can just be myself.

"I'm really grateful that Felixstowe has somewhere like this because I think otherwise I'd be in a very different position," she added.

Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.