Community Conductor

Ben Phillips
I’m a man wanting to utilise every skill I have and my wealth of experience to make a difference… Read more
Contact: Email Here

Our story so far

A Band of Brothers Leamington was formed in January 2018 when Fran Cabeza West and Ben Phillips together with four initiated men became the pioneers of this new community. Fran and Ben had been active members of their neighbouring Oxford ABOB community since 2016 where they undertook a number of the training programmes and led on the Education and Training community role. Our focus in Leamington during the first few months was on agreeing a plan of action of what needed to be done in terms of training, costs, funding, exploring which community groups we wanted to link up with, agreeing a venue for the weekly meeting and agreeing the process for recruiting new men to join us.

As a new ABOB community we were encouraged to formulate a community proposal describing our purpose and evidencing the need in Leamington for supporting disadvantaged young men involved in the Criminal Justice System, which justifies an ABOB community to be located in the town. As a result we produced a comprehensive proposal which evidenced local crime figures, number of young men in the Criminal Justice System, levels of homelessness, levels of male care leavers in Warwickshire and levels of young men using support services. This fully justified the establishment of a new ABOB community in Leamington and from it we received approval to continue with the next stage of our action plan.

To date (Sept 2021) we have recruited over 70 men, raised over £60,000 in funding, ran a couple of Beyond The Hero Rites of Passage Weekends for older men joining our community and we have run three Quest for Communities weekends and Quest Programmes for young men where we have supported them in creating positive changes in their lives, which impacts the lives of those connected to them whether families or their community.

We have also established strong relationships with member organisations of the Leamington community and surrounding areas namely Coventry and Warwickshire Care Leavers Team, Warwickshire Police, Warwickshire Integrated Offenders Management Team, Local Warwickshire Councillors, Leamington and Kenilworth Mayors, Warwickshire Crimebeat and numerous Support Services Providers that refer young men onto our Quest Programme and the various Trusts, Foundations and Corporate organisations which have provided funding without which we cannot operate. 

The growth and success of ABOB Leamington is due to many more people and organisations and not just those mentioned here, for which a big thank you to everyone involved for your support and faith that a different way exists to deal with the challenges we face in society and the individuals impacted. These words do little to express the gratitude we feel as the men in your community, both young and old, that have contributed towards creating safer communities through deeper connections with ourselves and each other.