11th September 2024
Up until a year ago, the old Harrington Youth Club building was still in existence, but the youth club itself had not run for many years. This meant there was no focussed provision for youth in the area, and the building itself was falling into disrepair.
With funding from Cumbria Community Foundation, and in collaboration with local CIC A New Hope Cumbria and lots of volunteers, Harrington Youth Club has been reborn. A New Hope are currently the only organisation in West Cumbria to run deaf inclusive provision for children and young people so this collaboration with Harrington Youth Club will lead to the first fully deaf inclusive youth groups in the area.
Thanks to £37,070, two youth groups have been set up: one for primary age children and another for those attending secondary school.
The funding was awarded from the Better Tomorrows programme, created by the Foundation in partnership with Cumbria Youth Alliance. Alongside grants of up to £75,000 over three years to help community organisations set up new youth clubs or expand provision, it provides accredited level 2 and 3 youth work training with the aim of substantially increasing the number of young people who can access support from youth workers.
Chair of the Foundation, David Beeby, was instrumental in setting up Better Tomorrows in his year as High Sheriff. He said: “High-quality youth work helps young people to achieve their full potential, gain confidence and competence, develop self-assurance, and establish high expectations and aspirations for themselves.”
The lead youth worker will come from A New Hope who will also provide volunteers and the hearing young people with training in British Sign Language (BSL).
Jo Haigh, Facilities Coordinator at Harrington Youth Club, said: “The barrier with communication often hinders or stops young people from the deaf community being able to access any general mainstream provisions due to staff not being aware of lip reading and/or sign language. Our groups are all inclusive and the hearing kids are really enjoying learning sign language.”
To ensure the youth club has appropriate premises, the Foundation also provided a grant of £2,517 from the Castles & Coasts Housing Association Community Fund, Lamont Pridmore Grassroots Fund and the Solway Fund. The money has helped renovate the building to provide a welcoming and warm environment for users as well as bringing the building up to current regulations. The bulk of the work has been done by volunteers from the community which has helped to keep costs down.
The heating and kitchen have been upgraded and the men’s urinals have had a full refurbishment. Where possible, features have been retained to maintain the character of the building and the ethos of the former Youth Club.