The room is called the Inspiration Station. On the days when Climb 4’s sessions are running, it fills with noise: children painting, adults gathering for a singing session, young people arriving for one-to-one support, arts materials everywhere you look. But on the morning we visited, it was just Becky Barnes sitting quietly among it all: the craft supplies waiting on shelves, the instruments in the corner, the walls that have seen so much of what this organisation does. Becky is Climb 4’s admin and marketing coordinator. Her job is to be in the room when it is full, capturing moments, having conversations, telling the story of a place that is quietly doing extraordinary things. But first, she tells us hers.
"A typical week for me is incredibly varied," says Becky. "Although you might look at my role and think she just does the social media and the marketing, I have to get really involved in the activities so that I can cover all those for social media. I meet lots of our attendees, we have great conversations, my job is all about communication.”
That involvement, being in the room and not just reporting on it, is central to how Climb 4 works. And it is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be heard more widely across North East Lincolnshire.
What is Climb 4?
Climb 4, which stands for Creative Learning, Inclusive of Mind and Body, is a Grimsby-based community social enterprise that has been supporting children, young people and families across North East Lincolnshire for 13 years. Founded by former teacher Sarah Hagerup, the organisation grew from a simple but powerful idea: that creativity is one of the most effective tools we have for improving people's health and wellbeing.
"At the absolute core of it, it's using creative arts to improve people's health and wellbeing," says Becky. "Sarah had always worked with children and young people as a teacher, but she also loved theatre and had been heavily involved in amateur dramatics and dance. Her vision was to marry the two together, to use creativity as a tool to help and support families and children. That was really the birthplace of Climb 4."
From those roots, Climb 4 has grown into an organisation delivering more than 28 programmes across three core areas: mental health and wellbeing, youth and communities, and training and education. They work from their base at Centre4 on the Nunsthorpe estate and reach out to communities across the wider region, including Immingham, Cleethorpes, and other areas where provision is often thin on the ground.
Three pillars, one purpose
Becky describes Climb 4's work through its three main pillars, each of which reflects a different way the organisation meets people where they are.
Youth and communities is the outreach arm, youth clubs delivered in areas of North East Lincolnshire that are underserved when it comes to provision for young people. It includes a specialist SEND youth club at Centre 4, designed specifically so that children with special educational needs have a space that feels safe and is built around their needs, not adjusted for them. It also includes the PATCH programme Parents Acting Together for Children's Health which incorporates Boogie Babies, a joyful, interactive music and play session for babies and toddlers.
Mental health and wellbeing is probably the heart of what Climb 4 does. Their PAM programme (Positive Active Minds) provides low-level mental health support for children and families. These are not therapy sessions in a clinical sense, but skilled, qualified early intervention. A child showing the first signs of anxiety, struggling with self-image or emotional regulation, can come to Climb 4 and work through a tailored programme with a trained practitioner. The first sessions are free and the pace is led by the child. The approach is always creative.
"It's early intervention," says Becky. "Those first signs of anxiety, first signs of lacking in confidence, some issues with emotional regulation they'll come to us and we'll work through that with them. And if we feel the situation needs more comprehensive support, we'll signpost them to the right organisations."
For adults, Climb 4 runs Arts4Health sessions, Sing4Health, a relaxed, no-pressure singing group with a cup of tea and a warm welcome, and chair dance fitness sessions designed to be genuinely accessible regardless of mobility. One story Becky shares captures it perfectly: a gentleman living with dementia who attended regularly. When the songs came on, his face would light up. "Just to see him taken back to that song," she says quietly. "It was incredible."
Training and education covers Climb 4's work with children who cannot access mainstream schooling, whether due to special educational needs, anxiety around busy environments, or other challenges. Their EOTAS provision (Education Other Than at School) provides one-to-one, creative, tailored learning packages for up to 16 hours a week. The home education group, which meets for both project-based learning and a social session, has grown so quickly that Climb 4 is already thinking about running extra sessions to keep up with demand.
The girl with the paper globe
Ask Becky about a moment that has stayed with her and she pauses before answering. Then she tells a story that is hard to forget.
During one of Climb 4's holiday club sessions, run through the government's Holiday Activities and Food programme, children were making paper plate globes as part of a nature week. A little girl, a refugee from Ukraine, finished painting hers and pointed to a place on it.
"She said, 'that's my home.' I asked where home was. She said, 'it's Ukraine. But we had to leave because they're fighting. There's war.'"
Becky stops for a moment. "It broke me. But through that to see the joy that we were bringing her, just a little window of happiness, playing with all the other children, creating crafts, having such a lovely time I thought, we're doing something right here. If we can give children a space where they feel safe when they've come from somewhere that isn't, that's a wonderful thing."
What struck her most was the room around that little girl. Children of all backgrounds, abilities and ages, playing together without labels, without questions, without judgement. "There are no labels with children," says Becky. "They don't care to understand or judge. That was wonderful in itself."
The hardest thing to put into words
Becky came to Climb 4 eighteen months ago, having spent many years as self-employed. She has her own experience of navigating health challenges and knows personally how much the right environment and the right people can matter. Being part of the Climb 4 team has been, she says, genuinely transformative.
"It's genuinely the loveliest bunch of people I've ever worked with. We all believe in what we do. We all just want to do the best for the children and families we work with. And we have such a good laugh. It's just really lovely."
Her job is to tell that story publicly and she is the first to admit how hard it is to translate what happens inside these rooms into words and images on a screen. Safeguarding means faces can't always be shown. Emotion doesn't photograph. "On a human level," she says, "it's hard not to be either inspired or moved by what you see in the sessions. And our job is to tell people's stories because by telling those stories, we show people what the work here actually is."
When she joined, Sarah Hagerup told her: "We haven't been very good at blowing our own trumpet." It is something Becky hears across the voluntary and community sector organisations so deep in the work they're doing that there is simply no time to talk about it. But she is beginning to change that, the phones are ringing more. The referrals are growing. People are starting to say: I didn't know you were doing all of this.
"That's Grimsby" pride, grit and the power of a proper conversation
Becky grew up here. She went to Western School, she knows what it feels like when you tell someone where you're from and watch their face change.
"People ask, where are you from? You say Grimsby, and they go oh. Or they just mention: fish. And I always say: most northern towns are much of a muchness, but in the most wonderful way. They're friendly. The people are great. There's enough here. And there's always that sense of community."
She remembers bringing university friends from across the country back to Grimsby, and a stranger sitting down with them unprompted, asking who they were and where they were from. "I said that's Grimsby. You can guarantee someone will talk to you. That's the beauty of it."
But she is clear-eyed about what makes this work hard, too. When people have grown up being told that they don't deserve better, that they don't have a voice, that they're not part of the bigger picture it is not easy to simply invite them in and expect them to step forward.
"When you can't even think about where your next food shop is coming from, how can you get excited about something happening in town?" she says. "I completely understand where people are coming from. But I think more real conversations, more opening up and saying I know things are hard right now, I know you feel like you don't have a voice, but the more we engage, the better things will be for all of us. Because when we all do better, we all do better."
What's coming next
There is a lot on the horizon for Climb 4. A new youth hub building is opening next door to Centre 4, and Climb 4 will be a significant presence in it, moving much of their youth delivery into this dedicated, purpose-built space while keeping the Inspiration Station as a resource hub for adults and smaller group work.
Their INSPIRE Youth Theatre project funded with £41,900 from Arts Council England has just completed a remarkable pilot year. Across weekly sessions in dance, drama and musical theatre, specialist workshops from industry professionals, and performances at venues including Grimsby Auditorium, the project reached 519 young people exceeding the 350 target and drew an audience of over 1000 at its final showcase. There was a strong cast of 450 performers.
Fifty-four per cent of that audience had never attended a live community performance before. After a short break, INSPIRE returns and Becky hopes to see it grow to include not just performers but everyone who makes theatre possible: the backstage crew, the costume makers, the lighting technicians, the set designers.
"We want to make sure everyone's got a place in the theatre," she says. "Not just those who want to be on stage."
As a not-for-profit organisation, everything Climb 4 delivers is made possible by funding from bodies including the National Lottery Community Fund, Children in Need, Arts Council England, and the Henry Smith Foundation. The more support they secure, the more people they can reach. And their appetite to grow is clear.
"If we can get the funding and take on more, we'll keep providing for as many people as we can," says Becky. "We're very much a if you build it, they will come kind of organisation."
A lovely bunch of people doing lovely things
When Becky is asked what she would want someone reading about Climb 4 for the very first time to understand, she comes back to something simple and true.
"It's using creative arts to improve people's health and wellbeing. It really is as simple as that. And I think that's something, when people see us, it should be really clear: we're trying to improve people's lives using creativity. We know what positive impact that can have."
In a room called the Inspiration Station, on an estate that national headlines often describe only in terms of what it lacks, a group of people show up every week with paintbrushes, singalong playlists, workbooks, and an unshakeable belief that everyone who walks through the door deserves to feel seen, supported, and part of something.
North East Lincolnshire is full of organisations like Climb 4. Quiet, determined, rooted. This is one of them.
Find out more about Climb 4
If you'd like to find out more about Climb 4's programmes, refer a child or family, volunteer, or support their work, visit climb4.co.uk or call 01472 236688.