Goals: To give young people somewhere to hang out
Funding: 3,500 from Northamptonshire Youth Service
In 2004, Nassington Parish Council held a series of meetings with local agencies including Connexions, Northamptonshire Young Farmers' Club, and Millennium Volunteers, as well as residents and local young people, to decide how to solve the problem of young people hanging around a local bus shelter.
They agreed that young people needed their own "hang-out" space and the idea of building an eco-friendly shelter on the village playing field was born.
During the summer of 2005, some of the young people made a video as part of a grant application. Although they were highly commended by the Camelot Foundation's 4front Awards, the bid was unsuccessful. But their efforts did not go unnoticed and eight of the team received bronze Youth Achievement Awards. Northamptonshire Youth Service was so impressed with their efforts that it agreed to give them 3,500 to fund the project.
Sarah Rodger, chair of the parish council, says: "The group has surpassed all our expectations and been brilliant. We wouldn't have been able to do it without Connexions as we didn't know what we were doing to start with. But every time we've faltered they've got us back on track."
The shelter will be eco-friendly and built using mainly recycled material and straw bales to suit its rural surroundings. Building started on 14 August and is almost complete.
A team of 13- to 18-year-olds is helping to build the shelter. Lucy Kiesel, 17, says: "I've enjoyed working with some really great people and it's helped us to improve our negotiation skills. I'd like to say thank you to everybody that's been involved; it's going to help out loads of people."
Project to share? Contact Dipika Ghose on 020 8267 4724 or dipika.ghose@haynet.com
