29 July 2025
A decade of investing in young people: Speyside Youth.
William Grant Foundation
Key learnings:
- Young people growing up in rural areas often have few opportunities to get together in a safe, fun environment outside school.
- In such communities – like Dufftown in Moray – volunteers can play a vital role in providing services through local youth organisations.
- Continuously listening to what young people want and giving them a leading role not only ensures more will benefit, but also creates authenticity, inspires others to get involved and breaks down barriers for those who may struggle to take part.
- Long-term support that responds to their changing needs helps young people to flourish.
Sustained investment in a youth organisation is about more than just projects and activities – it’s an investment in people, relationships, and the future.
In Moray, long-term support from the Foundation has helped a group of young people, volunteers, and community leaders to shape something lasting: Speyside Youth. And this year, the organisation is marking its tenth year of operation.
It started with a film
The story began not with a strategy, but with a film. In 2012, a group of young people in Dufftown, supported by Children First, produced Be Heard - a candid documentary sharing their everyday experiences in their rural community.
Dufftown is a small town with a population of just over 1,500 in the heart of Speyside and home to William Grant & Sons’ Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries. At the time, there was a striking absence of safe and engaging spaces for young people outside school. They described being turned away from public spaces for hanging around, bringing duvets to stay warm when meeting up outside, and lacking things to do that felt relevant or safe.
When community members watched the film, that message ignited action.
A growing presence
By 2015, a group of local volunteers had formed a committee and established a new organisation for young people in Dufftown and the surrounding villages, Speyside Youth. With initial support from the William Grant Foundation in partnership with Foundation Scotland, and local fundraising, the group began running a youth café one night a week at Dufftown Community Centre.
Demand grew quickly and within months they had added an additional night and were regularly welcoming over 40 young people.
What began as a small community effort has since grown into a trusted youth organisation with a wide reach. Today, more than 125 young people participate each week, with the majority attending the thriving youth café nights, and others in volunteering roles, supported by a small team of part-time youth workers.
It’s Warhammer time at Speyside Youth.
Developing a range of support
Its role has expanded to include supporting young people making the transition from several rural primary schools to Speyside High in nearby Aberlour – with the organisation running year-round activities that help young people connect with their future classmates.
For example, the Lunch Hub, set up by young people from Speyside Youth and launched in 2019, offers a welcoming lunchtime space at the High School for first-year pupils and is run with help from older students who benefited from the same support in previous years.
Young people are also supported through accredited youth work training, personal growth and leadership opportunities, one-to-one mentoring, and practical CV-writing and job skills support.
In the past 12 months, Speyside Youth members have contributed almost 2000 hours of volunteering, including helping at community events, leading youth-led committees, helping out at the youth café and providing befriending support at the Lunch Hub.
Staying flexible and responsive
During the pandemic, the team adapted quickly by moving some services online, checking in with families, keeping in touch through doorstep deliveries of wellbeing resources, outdoor activities and replacing the youth café with group sessions in local parks when restrictions allowed.
As they emerged from the pandemic, however, the team started to see more young people struggling with their mental health, sometimes to the point of crisis.
In response, they introduced additional mental health support, including a partnership with the charity Mikeysline. Staff and volunteers were trained to recognise and respond to signs of distress and self-harm, and offer support grounded in confidence and care.
Reflecting on the impact of Speyside Youth’s support on their child, one parent said:
He looks forward to the end of his week. He has visibly grown in confidence and now openly talks with youth committee, café members and youth workers. We have noted his rising self-esteem as he thrives within the safe environment provided, and he has matured in his reaction and responses to situations. He feels valued and a ‘somebody’ at youth café.
Powered by local leadership
Throughout this journey, the organisation has continued to be led by local people.
While staff numbers have grown, Speyside Youth continues to rely on dedicated volunteers and board members, many of whom have been involved since day one.
More recently, new trustees from the local community with backgrounds in finance and business have joined, strengthening the organisation for long-term sustainability.
The funding journey
Its funding model has also evolved. In its early years, Speyside Youth was almost entirely funded by a grant from the Foundation. Today, we are pleased to provide around one-third of the organisation’s income through our Youth Opportunities strand. The other two-thirds is drawn from a range of sources, including grants from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Robertson Trust and Dorenell Community Benefit Fund.
Its success in leveraging additional investment has enabled the organisation to offer more opportunities and stability for Speyside’s young people.
A legacy in action
The impact of long-term investment can be seen in the organisation itself, but also in the people who’ve grown up alongside it. Perhaps no one reflects this journey better than David, one of the young people who made the original Be Heard film in 2012.
Over the past ten years, David has been a participant, a youth committee member, board member, and now a volunteer facilitator with Speyside Youth.
In 2022, David received the Summit Saltire Award, Scotland’s highest honour for youth volunteering.
Photo credit: Grampian Online.
When he recently started a new job, David informed his employers that he wouldn’t be available on Tuesday nights as he volunteers at the youth café. His story is a reminder of the amazing things that happen when people, communities and organisations invest in young people, not just with funds, but with trust and belief.
So, here’s to David, to ten years of Speyside Youth, and to the next chapter in a story that continues to inspire.
Read more about our Youth Opportunities strand here.
