New outdoor youth space arrives
A new outdoor meeting facility has been provided for young people in Amble.
Youth workers Matthew Mahoney and Sue Morris with the tipi
Amble Youth Project secured funds to provide a covid-secure tipi-style meeting space for youngsters. The tipi is situated in the grounds of the Dovecote Centre, and in normal times, can hold up to 50 people.
Matthew Mahoney, Senior Manager of Amble Youth Project said “2020 was a difficult year for youth services across the country. Amble Youth Project had to pull all of its face to face work last March and moved to online support and home activity packs. In the Summer holidays we moved to very limited work with events, home activity packs and street work.
“2021 however has launched with a bang and we are able to offer limited face to face support thanks to our outdoor youth space. This space is designed to meet the unique situation of Covid19. I am keen to get this used as often as possible.”
The £8,000 facility includes heaters and mains electricity, and will be available to hire for other community groups. Funding came from the National Lottery, County Councillors Terry Clark and Jeff Watson, Amble Town Council and Northumbria Police’s Violence Reduction Unit.
The youth project are now able to work with small groups of young people – which is allowed under Covid lockdown restrictions.
Matthew said, “Currently we are running our support groups for children and young people who really need somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. We have some spaces left- if you know a 8-12 year old who is struggling with lockdown, it might be something we can help with.”
Contact Amble Youth Project on info@ambleyouthproject.org
Anna Williams
