If Rekindle Was Built by Young People -by Vanessa Lefton

In January and February 2026, I facilitated twice-weekly creative workshops with young people at Rekindle Tulse Hill. These culminated in a set of hopes, values and priorities for the space, defined by young people themselves. They can now guide and help evaluate the service as it develops.

Rather than asking directly “What do you want from Rekindle?”, I used creative methods to move beyond surface responses and support deeper reflection on their lives and what a space like Rekindle could offer.

Sessions covered:

• What Rekindle should feel, look and sound like
• What kinds of relationships young people want with staff and each other
• How power, fairness and care should operate
• What values and purposes should sit at the heart of Rekindle

The workshops unfolded across three phases of participatory research, each shaped by the themes and insights that emerged.

Phase One: Exploration

The first and longest phase focused on what matters in young people’s everyday lives. Through filmmaking, improvisation and enactment, they explored how they spend their time, their experiences of school and what caring relationships look and feel like.

They created mock television shows and filmed interviews to examine what “care” means from a young person’s perspective. This phase culminated in staged scenes about school, exploring power, rules and fairness. These opened space for critical reflection on the challenges young people face and prompted discussion about how Rekindle might offer something different.

Phase Two: Designing Rekindle of the Future

In the second phase, young people imagined a future Rekindle unbounded by practical constraints. Using shoebox dioramas, collage and craft materials, they built physical models of their ideal space. Glitter, sequins, feathers and old pictures became tools for shaping their visions.

Each group then filmed a guided tour of their imagined space, explaining the thinking behind their designs and their priorities. This phase marked a shift from reflecting on everyday challenges to articulating hopeful visions for the future.

Phase Three: Co-designing the Rekindle Tulse Hill Playbook

The final phase brought together insights from exploration and visioning. Young people reviewed what had emerged and worked collaboratively to synthesise their ideas into a Playbook: a youth-authored guide to what Rekindle should be and how it should operate.

The Playbook anchors Rekindle’s development in young people’s experiences and priorities. It sets out clear expectations, covering:

• Relationships: how people should treat one another
• Rules: how power, rules and fairness should operate
• Space: what the environment should feel like
• Activities: what should take place
• Purpose: the core values and priorities for Rekindle Tulse Hill

Young people also recorded video messages, embedded within the Playbook, addressing adult readers directly about what matters most.

Next steps

I am now pausing my PhD research at the University of Manchester for maternity leave. This creates a natural pause in the project, while Rekindle Tulse Hill continues to grow its presence and deepen relationships with young people and the local community.

On my return, the next phase will explore how far young people feel their expectations, values and priorities are being realised in practice. Using film ethnography and further creative methods, we will explore how their vision is unfolding over time.

Before heading off, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the young people who took part, for their enthusiasm and imagination, and to Rekindle staff for trusting the process and supporting the facilitation throughout.