LOCAL youth work charity Young Melksham has topped off a summer of success with the announcement that it will reopen the decommissioned Canberra Youth Centre next month.
The charity has gone from strength to strength in recent months, and can now look forward to a home to call its own for the next two years.
Following discussions with Wiltshire Council, Young Melksham now plans to move into the Canberra Youth Centre on Spa Road, just one year after it was closed down due to local government spending cuts.
Young Melksham founder and trustee Jon Hubbard said, “I’m absolutely delighted that we can re-open the Canberra. It’s very exciting because it will give young people a safe place where they know they are welcome. We’re expecting to have moved in by the end of October at the latest.
“The youth club at the Adventure Centre has been great and we’re incredibly grateful that we have been able to use it, but one of the biggest obstacles of reaching young people has been that they have nowhere they can claim ownership.
“Reopening the youth centre will mean we can offer so many more activities and facilities, and the young people will have much more control over what they can do.
“It’s great, too, that common sense has finally prevailed at Wiltshire Council. Taxpayers were paying over £11,000 per year to keep the Canberra empty, while Young Melksham has been paying to hire the Adventure Centre.
“Now, the council won’t have to pay rates on the youth centre, and we will pay a much lower rate because we’re a charity. It’s a genuine win/win situation.”
The services to be offered have not been confirmed, but, with the help of new volunteers, Young Melksham hopes to open the centre three evenings per week and start an after-school club.
Young Melksham is a charity set up by local trustees to work with children, young people and their families in the Melksham Community Area.
For more information visit www.youngmelksham.org.uk
