By Rachel Cole, Projects Officer
Prior to Thurcroft receiving the £1 million lottery money in 2012, there was nothing much for the young people in Thurcroft. The village has always wanted to have a youth club, but due to funding and a suitable location to hold a club this was not possible.
In 2013, thanks to the investment from the Lottery, a youth worker was employed to move this project forward and since then two youth clubs have been running on a weekly basis. There are two clubs, a juniors (11-15) on a Friday and a seniors (16-19) on a Tuesday. Both clubs now run from the Thurcroft Hub and there is now over 500 young people on their register.
The young people are involved in many different activities including the gala, litter picks, attending big local conferences where they have run workshops, dance and sporting activities, outdoor pursuit weekends plus much more. In 2017 they took on a derelict allotment with the help of the allotment holders and members of the community and this is going from strength to strength. The young people also do a lot of their own fundraising.
Three young people aged between 11 and 13 have regularly attended the Big Local monthly partnership meetings over the years which has been amazing to see. Other Big Local areas comment on how difficult it is to get younger people involved in their area.
In January of this year, three young people became partnership members, giving them a say and a vote about how the remainder of the funding is spent. They had to attend 3 consecutive meetings before they could apply and also complete a formal application form saying why they wanted to join the partnership and what they had to offer. They were asked to present their “pitch” at a partnership meeting.
It’s been really good to hear the young people’s ideas and opinions and is brilliant that they want to get involved with the community.
The young people represent Thurcroft on many occasions and it is always noted what a credit they are to the village. Thurcroft should be very proud of this.