Ashley’s Story

In early 2025, Dynamite met Ashley at an events day held at Highbury College. Following this introduction, Ashley has become actively involved with the group, contributing to local events and taking part in co-production meetings.
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Ashley has reflected on his experience of joining Dynamite and has shared how being part of the group has had a positive impact on him both personally and socially. Ashley’s reflections highlight the value of Dynamite in creating a safe, welcoming, and empowering environment for young people. His story demonstrates how Dynamite supports members to build confidence, develop social skills, and feel a strong sense of belonging within their community.
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"I’ve been at Dynamite for about 2 weeks and in that 2 weeks I have learnt a great deal from Michelle and the Dynamite group. 

I was first introduced to Dynamite and Michelle at college where they spoke about Dynamite and from that day when we spoke about it and the way they spoke about it, it made me want to come as they described Dynamite in a fun way. 

I liked the aspect of what they do, because the people there work together to help shape services in Portsmouth to ensure they are accessible and inclusive to help people understand of people with disabilities. I think after that I really wanted to join, I got in contact with Michelle and after I left college it, I joined Dynamite.

My first meeting was at make and I met Michelle directly there. This was also the day where I started meeting other members of Dynamite that are members and volunteers. The one member who stands out to me is Steven who is a volunteer He has been there for a couple of years, and he was very welcoming. So, me Michelle and Steven met a gentleman from Hive named Tony and he was talking about youth clubs and how they can be more accessible to everyone in different age ranges such as 14-16yrs and then 16-25.  

My second meeting Michelle invited me along to help represent Dynamite we went to the Charles Dickens Centre (PYC) Who is a youth club, and they wanted us to do a young inspection there to make sure it was accessible to everyone.  

The third meeting was with the King's Theatre I went along with Michelle again helping to represent dynamite and we talked about making the theatre more accessible and less scary and explaining their character to the audience and showing them that everyone is safe just in general just connecting as a person and not a character so it builds connection to the people who may not understand that they are not just characters that are playing. 
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 In my short time at Dynamite, I have not only started to build confidence, but I have met a lot of new people I finally feel like I belong somewhere this group has helped me a lot in so many ways from, building up my confidence to talking to the members of the public Since starting Dynamite I have felt more confident in myself and most importantly I feel like I belong there everyone is so welcoming and it’s something I am proud to be a part of."