Rapper highlights the power of youth clubs for BBC Children In Need

Rapper DC3, real name Daniel Chenjerai, 19, is quietly watching ringside as a group of young people take part in boxing at a youth club in Battersea.

Dozens of teenagers hit punchbags and do burpees, and it's not long before he finds himself taking part in a group wall sit.

No-one gets away with standing still here.

He may have won Best Newcomer and Best Gospel Act at the 2026 Mobo Awards, but he still got excited when BBC Children In Need asked him to work with them on a new track celebrating youth clubs like this one.

"When the opportunity came for this beautiful project, I was so shocked. I've grown up watching Children in Need. I remember telling my parents, I was just so excited."

Chenjerai is at Carney's Community Centre in Battersea, which works with up to 1,000 young people a year, and up to 500 of them at the youth club.

Since 2010, four in 10 youth clubs in the UK have closed.

So Chenjerai was more than happy to write his song, Home, about youth clubs being a second home to many children, and having the young people from the youth club in his video.

He himself frequented a youth club in Northampton, where he is from.

"The youth deserve a spotlight where they can express themselves and can grow," he said.

Around 40 to 50 young people are at Carney's on any given evening, and they all enjoy a vigorous workout as soon as they arrive.

"The boxing sessions are the hook to engage the young people," explained CEO and co-founder of Carney's, George Turner, a much-loved member of staff.

He seems to be everywhere at once, setting up table football and table-tennis, organising the food for the young people, popping in and out of the boxing gym.

Carney's has been getting grants from Children In Need since 2022, and currently gets £45,000 from the charity, which is funding some of the staff, including the qualified coaches, until 2028.

JD Sports has also match-funded £1m to Children In Need projects like this one.

"There's a load of things they get from boxing but the thing for us is we're then able to start building relationships," Turner says.

"If there's help that's needed around school, around getting in trouble, around employment, we've then got a relationship with them.

"And they've got access to positive male role models as well."

Not only have the youngsters at Carney's been involved in DC3's music video, they've also been involved in creating a youth club dictionary in partnership with BBC Children In Need and JD Sports.

Turner reads out one of the words under the letter C.

"So we've got C for carrot," he says proceeding to read out the definition one child has given.

"A carrot is an instrument of trust," he reads aloud.

"I got asked to chop carrots for the youth club dinner. Nobody had every trusted me with something before.

"This is a perfect example," he says. "We've had young people say, 'When I'm down here I feel like I'm important, I feel like I've got a role to play.'"

For 13-year-old Raheem, who is booked in for a session with a music production engineer in the studio upstairs, today brings an unexpected guest in the well-known rapper in whose video he featured prominently.

But he's rather nonchalant about it.

"The pressure's there but... doesn't feel too much different."

This youth club is a second home for children like Raheem, who get a chance they might not otherwise get to experiment in sports and music and to enjoy the company of other youngsters in a safe, fun environment.

As Raheem says: "Youth clubs are important because it's a place where children in the community can come together, play along, have fun and find other people in the area to connect with."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk