Friend of murdered stab victim inspired to host free teenage festival in Hexham

The Loud Speaker Easter Weekender is the brainchild of Calvin Eden, who's best friend was tragically murdered, aged just 15. Calvin and Oba Akinwale founded Loud Speaker in 2019 to provide young people with opportunities to get a better start in life after having difficult upbringings themselves and are now bringing their live events to the region.

The four night event is happening at Dukeswood House over the easter weekend, from Friday 29th March to Tuesday 2nd April and is one of six such free residential events taking place over that weekend, with others happening in Kent, Norfolk, North Wales, South Yorkshire and the Isle of Wight.

The Loud Speaker events are a collaboration with NCS, who are fully funding the programme, to ensure full accessibility to 15 to 17 year olds from all backgrounds and are even laying on transport from nearby hubs to ensure attendance from a wide circle. NCS is supporting Loud Speakers' goals of making motivation cool, learning exciting and developing teenargers' social skills and confidence around others.

All of the on-site activities are split into outdoor activities, game-changing workshops, and evening activities. Each site has a variety of outdoor activities, ranging from archery and climbing to zip lines and high ropes.

The workshops will be focused on building life, employability and enterprise skills. Topics covered include communication skills, marketing, personal branding and even start up business coaching.

Finally, the evenings are where things get crazy... Loud Speaker Bingo, The Big Quiz and the Easter Weekender Festival offer the opportunity for young people to have fun and make meaningful connections.

In all, up to 2,000 teens will collectively attend the events with 300 to 400 expected at each venue. Teens aged 15 to 17 are encouraged to sign up for the last remaining places for the event at Loudspeaker.org.uk