Bicester Village is somewhere I usually associate with shopping, and with the occasional temptation that wasn’t on the shopping list. On Tuesday evening, however, Mark and I were there for a different reason: a gathering in The Apartment to celebrate nine local charities supported by the Unlock Futures Fund, Bicester Village’s community support fund, all working to improve the lives of children and young people.
The Fund is part of The Bicester Collection’s wider philanthropic programme, DO GOOD. For 2026, Bicester Village made £50,000 available, with individual grants of up to £10,000 and a particular focus on children and young people in Bicester and the surrounding area. It supports charities, community groups and other not-for-profit organisations working to improve young people’s lives, opportunities and wellbeing. In 2025, it awarded £50,000 to 24 local charities. You can read more about the Fund here.
I attended as a Deputy Lieutenant and had been invited to lead a conversation with representatives of three of those charities, including young people who had experienced their support. It was a welcome opportunity to hear more about work happening close to home; work that can be easy to overlook unless you happen to need it.
Our panel brought together Gem Barrett, founder of Nai’s House, and Alfie, who first came to the charity for support and now volunteers there; Zoe Draper from The Hummingbird Centre, alongside Zara, a young person who has used its services; and Nicki from Project Wordplay.
Their organisations respond to different circumstances. Nai’s House supports young people with their mental health. The Hummingbird Centre helps people affected by cancer, including children from the age of four. Project Wordplay uses creativity to help young refugee children learn English in Bicester schools. Between them, they encounter young people trying to make sense of experiences that would challenge any adult.
The starting point for our conversation was straightforward: hear from the young people themselves. That sounds obvious, but we adults are remarkably capable of filling the available time with our own observations. Give us a panel, a microphone and a subject we care about, and we can get quite a long way before remembering to ask someone younger what they think.
During my year as High Sheriff, I chose “Hearing the Young Unheard” as my theme. That concern continues to shape how I approach occasions like this. If we want to understand what support young people need, we have to give them room to explain it in their own words, including when their answers take the conversation somewhere we hadn’t anticipated.
Alfie and Zara both spoke with a poise and maturity that belied their years. As they shared their experiences, the assembled audience fell very quiet; the applause that followed reflected how much their words had moved those listening. Speaking so openly in a room full of people takes courage, and I was grateful to them both.
Those of us listening have a responsibility too: to pay attention, resist the temptation to tidy everything into a reassuring conclusion, and consider what we might do with what we have heard. Giving young people a platform matters, but so does taking their contribution seriously once the microphones have been switched off.
It also made me think about how we sometimes see young people around Bicester. A group on their bikes outside Sainsbury’s, hoods up, can seem intimidating. It is easy to make a judgement from a distance. But behind each hoodie is a person, as capable of kindness and as vulnerable as anyone else, with worries, hopes and something to offer. We may never discover what that contribution could be unless we offer some trust and an opportunity.
Alfie’s involvement as a volunteer at Nai’s House offers a particularly useful reminder of how much young people bring to their communities. Someone who has needed support also has experience, understanding and skills to offer others. We should make more room for that contribution.
The evening also brought local charitable work into view for people who might otherwise know little about it. A schoolchild learning English, a young person seeking mental health support, or a family dealing with cancer may live just a few streets away from us. Their circumstances will not necessarily be visible as we go about our daily lives. These charities know them, build relationships with them and provide somewhere to turn.
The Unlock Futures Fund’s financial support matters, of course. So does the opportunity to bring people together, introduce them to the organisations working on their doorstep and encourage them to think about how they could help. Money, time, useful contacts and a willingness to open a door can all make a practical difference.
As an aside, I think Bicester Village deserves more recognition locally for the support it gives our community. Much of that happens quietly, below the radar, and perhaps we do not always see the extent of it. It is a significant local employer with a strong commitment to social responsibility; evenings like this offer a chance to see some of that commitment in practice.
My thanks to Lucy Busby, Miranda Markham and their colleagues for bringing the evening together, and to everyone from the charities who shared their work and experience. Above all, thank you to the young people who helped us understand more clearly why that work matters.
Mark thoroughly enjoyed the evening too, including his first visit upstairs to The Apartment. We left grateful for the welcome and with plenty to think about; a good reminder that, even somewhere familiar, there is much more happening in our community than we may realise.
