We are The Boathouse Youth

The Boathouse Youth is a product of its local communities’ requirements. Our priority is to embrace those whose need is greatest, and location is paramount. We have chosen the Bloomfield ward and Grange Park council estate due to their unrivalled levels of deprivation within our town. More than 50% of the children residing in these areas are “living below the breadline”.

A complex variety of issues, associated with deprivation, contribute towards instability. Children and young people may witness regular domestic violence, drug/alcohol misuse, live in poor-housing conditions, and have limited access to basic services such as the dentist. The most simple of commodities are often in the shortest supply: food in the fridge, a hot drink, help with homework, a bedtime story and a clean bed.

The most significant barrier facing our young people is the financial position of their parents. This is why all of our services are fully-funded and free at the point of access. Without The Boathouse Youth there would be no other recreational outlet for the children and young people of these communities.
The resultant effect of our absence would be an inevitable gravitation towards anti-social forms of behaviour and young people being pulled into the continued cycle of deprivation and requiring high-levels of statutory interventions on an already stretched set of services.