Our impact
Indirock is a social enterprise, which means that we’re a not-for-profit organisation rooted in our community.
Boldering has many benefits (some of which we’ve compiled in this handy blog post) so we’re always excited to share our love of bouldering with new people in our community of Southend and beyond!
We have three clear aims:
Bringing the adventure and enjoyment of bouldering to Southend, making it as accessible as possible
Being part of the revival of our City centre
Supporting vulnerable young people from our local area into work
We don’t usually shout much about what we do, so we thought it was about time we compiled some of our impact to date! There’s always more to do, but we hope you’re as impressed as we are with how far we’ve come.
Between March 2022 and December 2023, we've:
Had over 18,000 individuals register with us
Hosted over 52,000 un-instructed climbs
Hosted some 2500 climbs for charity & community groups
Hosted over 2000 climbs for primary & secondary schools
Supported 16 vulnerable young people through 34 work experience shifts, plus two on 6-month traineeships
Hosted nearly 1000 soft play sessions for our youngest climbers
Dicounted nearly 4500 climbs*
*Most of which was funded by us
Discounted nearly 7000 orders in our coffee shop*
To date we’ve worked extensively with local charities such as SEND the Right Message, running weekly climbing courses for SEND children, and on one off or shorter courses with charities like Trust Links, and Southend on Sea Rape Crisis. We’ve booked out the whole of Indirock for events with charities such as Southend in Sight and Diabetes UK. We’ve funded free climbing passes for refugees through Welcome to the UK.
We’ve held courses and provided work experience to pupils in alternative schools such as Sutton House Academy and YMCA Community School, as well as many mainstream schools. We’ve supported young people on probation with adding to their CVs and those struggling with Specific Educational Needs and Disabilities to access work experience for the first time.
Case study
Connor (name has been changed) was 15 and in Year 10 at the time of his voluntary work experience with Indirock, taking place over a week in June 2023. His school, one of the alternative provisions in our City, said:
“Connor chose to do his work experience at Indirock as this was a familiar environment for him having visited with the school and he felt comfortable there. He has low self-esteem so this was really important for him.
As far as possible, students are expected to source their own work placements but several are unable to do this for one reason or another. Unfortunately many do not have the same family contacts and home support framework that some mainstream students have. They often lack the social skills and self-esteem to seek work placements independently without support either from home or from school. Additionally some employers can be put off by the term ‘alternative provision’ and automatically expect the worst; consequently we are finding it increasingly difficult to source work placements.
I enjoyed learning how to talk with customers, work the till and things in the café and socialise with other staff at work. I was able to develop my social skills at work.
Many of our students face substantial challenges in life and it is really important that they are placed with supportive employers to help them reach their full potential. Connor may well have struggled in a less supportive environment.
During the course of the placement Connor arrived on time each day and, according to feedback, completed work to a good standard and was respectful and hardworking. This has resulted in increased self-esteem as he knows that he can succeed outside of school. This has enabled him to spread his wings a little and try a different work placement in a completely new environment this time around – he will be doing his work experience at another sports facility this December. He still thoroughly enjoys his trips to Indirock and has developed his interest in bouldering.”
Sustainability at Indirock
We have designed Indirock to be as carbon efficient as possible, and our eco efforts have been recognised twice by European funding from LoCASE. Our lighting is all low energy LED, with much of it on automatic sensors so lights aren’t left on unnecessarily. Our ventilation system uses heat recovery technology.
We use amazing local business Southend Refills for all our cleaning products, meaning we create next to no plastic waste from these products. We have also made our café almost plastic free, selling only cans or glass bottles of drinks, and using biodegradable packaging for takeaways. We encourage our customers to reduce waste through charging 10p for takeaway cups and selling Indirock branded reusable cups. We have also signed up to the Surfers Against Sewage, Plastic Free Communities pledge.
We’re always keen to keep improving, as we want everyone to have the chance to enjoy Indirock. If you have any ideas for how we could make your experience better or introduce more communities to the love of bouldering, please let us know on hello@indirock.co.uk!