Team work makes the dream work…
Northallerton Youth Space has been running for 7 months now. This project has been the result of a team of representatives from various agencies coming together to provide a youth provision in the local area to meet the needs of local young people.
Young people were consulted and this was fed back to the team who comprise of; ourselves at North Yorkshire Youth, Safer Hambleton Hub, local Police and PCSO’s, Town Council, Hambleton District Council, Leisure Centre and volunteers from the local community who all give their time enthusiastically and passionately.
The Youth Space runs from the Town Hall every Tuesday night 6.30 – 8.30pm for schools years 7-11. Entry is free! There are regular numbers of around 30+ most weeks attending and young people are able to access various activities including table tennis, pool, X-box, music, as well as crafts and games. We also provide free hot snacks and drinks and there is a tuck shop available too.
In February we followed a theme of ‘Love’ where we highlighted various Awareness Days associated with care, kindness and love and focussed activities around these themes. Some of these included mindfulness art work, self–esteem worksheets, activities to look at our own strengths, appreciating ourselves and each other. We made woven love hearts in rainbow colours, decorated biscuits, and made ‘Valentine’s/love’ cards.
On the 8th and 15th May we have professional dancers from ‘Rural Steps’ visiting us to run free taster sessions in contemporary dance, with a view to running regular classes in the area in the coming months.
This year the Youth Space has been kindly chosen as one of the charities to benefit from fundraising taking place via the Northallerton Retails Business Forum’s Annual Pancake Race to take place at the Applegarth Park, Northallerton at 10.30am on Tuesday 5th March.
The Youth Space is a fantastic example of community spirit and multi-agency collaboration with many local businesses supporting the project and it has quickly become an integral part of the local community and a much needed provision for young people in the area.