Opinion: A testament to the value of youth clubs

A few weeks ago I was involved in an interesting residential experience. It was not a youth club trip but a weekend away involving young parents and their small children. It was timed to coincide with the warming up of the weather and the lambing season - so the children did not get too perished and had something to excite them (instead of cartoons and children's TV) in the hills of north Wales. Significantly, however, the parents had last been there as teenagers more than a decade ago.

Once the kids had finally got to sleep, we settled down for a chat. There was the natural nostalgia and an inevitable focus on their days at the club (they never, ever referred to it as the youth club). We talked long into the night and covered all kinds of memories but there were five key elements to their reflections. The first was that the club was an escape - a haven from tensions at home, pressures at school and sometimes the anxieties of the street. Second, they acknowledged the support they had received and the immediacy of its delivery. Third, they were now aware of the knowledge they had acquired through their participation, though they said they had not been aware of it at the time. Fourth, they now valued the experience provided that had broadened their outlook. And finally, they said that - unlike other areas of their lives - the club had strengthened their self-belief because the workers had believed in them.