WESTBURY Youth Club will be back up and running from September following its closure in March this year – and will be combined with Warminster Youth Club operating from Funways Soft Play centre in Warminster.
In March this year, Westbury Youth Club closed its doors for the third time – despite leader Beth Mullins’ fight to keep it open. A month later, this was followed by Warminster Youth Club and Bratton Youth Club’s closure, with young people in the area pleading for a relaunch.
Beth Mullins has now joined with Andy Dangerfield, owner of Funways in Warminster, to create a combined youth club between Westbury and Warminster, to provide a safe place for young people to meet.
Beth said, “I worked alongside Andy whilst running Westbury Youth Club to organise trips. Andy was aware of the work I had done with the club and offered me the use of Funways as a venue, following the closure of the club at Leigh Park Community Centre. It would mean combining and relaunching the two clubs together, as both are closed.
“Of course ideally I would have loved to have kept the youth club in Westbury but after an extensive search for a new premises, one could not be found. However, I am pleased to say I agreed to relaunching and running both clubs as a combined club, under the name of Westbury and Warminster Youth Club.
“We aim to relaunch from September running every Thursday, term time only, 6pm-7.30pm for 11-14year olds.
“We will have the whole of Funways. both indoors and outdoors, for use solely by us during the sessions all year round, as outdoor lighting is supplied. There will also be the use of their shop for our members, offering refreshments. The venue is better suited to the youth club’s needs.
“I am also pleased to say two of the previous volunteers at Westbury Youth Club will be continuing to work alongside me, so any returning members will see some faces they recognise and some new ones as well.
“Funways has a minibus that we will have use of. The aim is to obtain funding so myself and possibly another volunteer are able to obtain a minibus licence, then we will be able to offer a collection and drop off service to and from the club from Westbury.
“We will continue to run parties for Christmas, Halloween and end of term, as well as off site activities.
“I am now in the process of applying for funding in order to have money available to open the doors in September, however it is a lengthy process.
“Youth Action Wiltshire have kindly offered their support and now we are looking for local companies who would be interested in sponsorship to allow us to buy equipment such as arts and crafts, sports equipment and digital equipment, all for the use of our members at the club.
“We currently have a team of five volunteers, but we are always looking for new volunteers to join the team. We are setting up a committee and are in need of volunteers to offer their time to help out behind the scenes with things such as accounts.”
If you feel you are able to spare some time for the youth club, you can contact them at wwyouthclub@hotmail.com.
Picture: Westbury Youth Club celebrating their 1st anniversary at Funways last year.
