The Boathouse Youth has been awarded a grant of almost £500,000 which means we can now almost double the size of our Grange Park Youth Centre.

We have received £487,975 from the Government’s Youth Investment Fund which will be used to extend our Youth Centre on Horsebridge Road in the middle of the Grange Park estate.

The grant is the biggest single-year investment we have received since we launched almost 15-years ago in the hall of St. Peter’s Church in the Bloomfield Ward.

The charity has already saved much of the money required to complete this extension, which was being held is unrestricted reserves. The award of a full-cost-recovery grant means these reserves can be freed up for other capital projects over the next 12 months.

Lewis Hobill, 17, a young leader who recently completed his Level 2 Award in Youth Work Principles, said: “I run sessions with our junior age group and we just don’t have enough space so with the bigger hall it will be so much better,”

Lewis, who started attending The Boathouse Youth when he was 11-years-old, has recently celebrated achieving his Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and securing paid employment with the charity over the summer holidays.

It is hoped work to build the extension will begin in September, with activities continuing during the construction period by using space at a nearby school if necessary.

Around 350 children a year currently access the centre on Horsebridge Road, which Boathouse Youth moved into in January 2020 after initially using space at Boundary Primary School.