Meet our team

Youth Work Team - Chief Executive - Christie Spurling

Christie Spurling founded N-Gage in 2006. He has used his own experiences to develop N-Gage; a project that is already having a real impact on many young people. Permanently excluded from his high school and placed in a residential unit, his complete disengagement from education led to many struggles in later life including times of unemployment before he discovered an ability and passion for working with young people. He qualified as a youth worker and has worked as a Team Leader in a residential unit for Young People with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, Behaviour Support Worker for LEA and also as a church-based Youth Worker.

Christie is a believer in being a part of the solution, all the programmes he has set up try to look at young people as a whole person. If they are causing problems in school it is likely they may be also creating challenges outside of school. N-Gage is committed to encouraging all young people to be an active and positive part of their community, in school and out.

As a qualified Youth Worker with over 15 years experience, Christie runs N-Gage’s schools inclusion programme across Manchester. Married to Jo, with 2 daughters, outside work Christie is a keen drummer and enjoys spending time with his family and friends.

Youth Inclusion Manager - Rachel Strafford

Having worked with young people of all ages for the past 4 years, Rachel has developed a massive passion to see young people achieve and reach their full potential in all areas of their lives. She has got many creative influences and loves to use these to get people inspired! Rachel is heading up the community side of N-Gage which includes managing our new Catalyst project co-ordinating teams of people to be out 5 nights a week with the Police Resource Vehicle engageing with young people who are at risk of anti-social behavior. She also runs regular 'Transform' and 'Revolution' events as well as taking an active role in some of the workshops which we provide.

Schools Worker - Carly Cocker

Carly joined our team in September 2012 after completing her degree in Public Services & getting Married to Josh. She has been actively involved in youth work for 6 years and is passionate about seeing young people grow in confidence and ability. After struggling in school, being suspended frequently and being told that she wouldn’t amount to anything, she had one teacher who believed in her, supported her and kept cheering her on all the way through school, she believed this person made a real difference and changed the way school ended, this is why she is passionate about giving something to young people now, being the positive role model that they need. She will be working in our schools alongside Christie, and also developing a programme of mentoring and other interventions whilst expanding our ability to work in new areas.

Office team

The work of N-Gage is supported by two part time admin staff: Sarah Small  who is Operations Manager. Sarah manages the office, and takes care of all the administration work that is generated by N-Gage. Rodger Spurling is our Development Co-ordinator, and his job is to develop relationships with funders and other partner organisations to help develop and maintain the work of N-Gage.

  Sarah Small               Rodger Spurling

Catalyst Detached Youth Work Team

Following the launch of the Catalyst programme in Oct 2011 we were joined by a number of fantastic sessional youth workers who help to deliver the project in the evenings.

Helen Potter	Matty Green	Matt Round	Paul Bell
Sharina Taylor	Zoe Ridsdill	Heather O' Hara	Claire Mcleod
Lucy Napper Harris	Sandy Hodnett	Si Hands	Ruth Hilditch
Ashley Ollerhead	Brian Talabi

There are many other people who work tirelessly to keep N-Gage going...

Trustees

The Trustees are a vital part of the organisation, overseeing the work of the charity and developing the vision of N-Gage. Managed by the Chair of the Trustees, Andy Eadie, our Trustees are drawn from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, bringing with them valuable skills and expertise.

Fundraising Team

The Fundraising Team are responsible for the wonderful fundraising events that N-Gage puts on throughout the year and are active in developing and organising fundraising projects such as corporate sponsorship, to support the Director, Staff and Volunteers in their roles. The team are a group of enthusiastic volunteers, again drawn from a variety of backgrounds including education.

Finance Team

We have a small, dedicated team who look after our finances. They ensure that N-Gage is able to get the best possible use out of the funds that people donate, and ensure that every penny is accurately accounted for.

Volunteers 

Most of those working with and for N-Gage do so in a volunteer capacity. There are lots of different tasks you can get involved with if you would like to volunteer.

• Detached youth work
• Community action projects
• Other youth work – please give examples of what you are able to offer.
• Office based/admin work
• Fundraising events
• Outreach work (buckets collecting at Tesco etc)
• Serving on either our Fundraising or Trustee Team
• Offering specific expertise or advice.

Please get in touch with N-Gage at contact us,  if you would like to volunteer.