Sponsored by
Much more than just a youth centre
Voice of Youth: Sisters Rebecca and Paige Saunby show their support as young people gather in the Market Place in Chesterfield to protest against the proposed cutting of youth services across the county.
WE are now about half way through the consultation by Derbyshire County Council regarding the proposed changes to the provision of youth services within Derbyshire.
We have heard about the need to cut 28% from the budget which means savings of in the region of £800,000 need to be found by the Youth Services.
Their proposed way of meeting these reductions is a withdrawal of youth workers with the expectation that voluntary organisations will step in and a closure of youth centres.
Whilst I agree with the need for councils to look at their budgets, the way the closure of youth centres is being looked at is short sighted and blinkered.
Hasland youth centre is a space which is used by the community to a large extent.
There are two Rainbows groups, two Brownie packs, a Guide pack as well as Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.
Due to the focus of the review being youth services, the people who use the facilities who are under the age of 13 are being excluded from the consultation process, even though they are significant users of the youth centre especially in Hasland.
If the youth centre in Hasland were to close, the groups that currently meet on the premises would have to find alternative accommodation. If this cannot be found then these groups would cease to meet.
Our children and young people benefit in many ways from being part of Scouting and Guiding.
They learn about teamwork, are involved in the community, form friendships that last a lifetime, develop skills in leadership and much more.
The closure of the centre in Hasland may well mean that the opportunities to work and develop our children and young people are lost.
I would call on anyone in Hasland who has benefited from the work of the uniformed organisations or any other group that meets at the youth centre to sign the petition and complete the consultation document to show that Hasland youth centre is a community centre and ought to be kept as such.
ANDREW CHECKLEY
Unit helper 2nd Hasland Rainbows
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Chesterfield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 1 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
proudlp
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 09:18 PMWell done the council for trying to promote obesity and anti-social behaviour among children by closing down youth centres like that in Hasland. Is the counclil trying to reduce our children to X-box game playing couch potatoes or will they allow them to learn new skills provided by the likes of the Scout Association, that will help the children of Hasland develop into responsible adults. They hen waste money and promote anti-social behaviour in the adults of the area by changing a perfectly good traffic system in Hasland into a car park ran by traffic lights. To borrow a phrase from a US Army Commander - Nuts!
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.