Wigan borough youth organisations work together to offer more for young people

Staff from Wigan Youth Zone (WYZ) are supporting staff at Leigh Youth Hub (LYH), helping the new facility to offer more places at its popular Thursday session – plus a new session on a Monday evening.

The partnership working between the well-established and popular WYZ and the Wigan Council backed LYH, which opened this year, will provide a boost for the benefit of young people across the borough.

Amanda Dumican, operations manager at Leigh Sports Village, which oversees the running of the Youth Hub, said: “Our resident youth workers Karen and Hannah have formed so many positive relationships with local young people and this partnership working with WYZ will enable us to offer more support and opportunities to the young people of Leigh.

“Since opening our doors to young people at Leigh Youth Hub this year we have had an amazing response with more than 1,000 young people attending our open access sessions and more than 260 engaging in gym activity.”

Staff from WYZ are now based at Leigh twice a week, to run the new weekly Monday evening session and to help support the hub to welcome even more young people to their Thursday night activities.

Cabinet member for Children and Families at Wigan Council Coun Jenny Bullen, said: “Leigh Youth Hub is already proving very popular with local young people, which is fantastic, and the open sessions on Thursday and Friday nights, have been particularly so.

“We’ve listened to feedback from the young people and their parents and carers, who have asked if we could offer more open access sessions during the week.

“The new partnership with WYZ will help us to meet this demand and may also be an opportunity to bring young people from Wigan and Leigh together and give them the chance to make new friends.”

The additional Monday night open sessions are now in place – this includes the launch of activities for eight–11-year-olds at LYH for the first time.

Chief Executive Officer at Wigan Youth Zone, Anthony Ashworth-Steen, said: “We’ve been fully supportive of Leigh Youth Hub right from the outset, with a presence at the centre from day one through our employability provision, which has already supported over 100 young people not in education, training, or employment into a positive destination.

“So, it’s with great excitement that we can now add further resource and help support our partners at Wigan Council, Leigh Sports Village and Leigh Youth Hub.

"We are very grateful to The Gabriel Trust, which is the charitable trust of David and Maureen Speakman, for providing the funding to make this a reality.

“The project is also supported by funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes.

“While Wigan Youth Zone has always delivered for young people in Leigh through our outreach services, the opportunity to have a base at the Hub is a gamechanger and we cannot wait to get started.

“Over time we are hopeful that the young people will get to know our staff and may choose to travel into Wigan on a Saturday night, when we offer free transport from Leigh.

“Similarly, some young people from Wigan may wish to try out some of the services and activities on offer in Leigh.”

Things for young people to do at LYH include pool table, table tennis, arts and crafts, gaming, a space to do homework, gym, and the chance to relax with friends or speak to qualified youth workers about the things going on in their lives.

Activities are open to young people aged eight to 19 (or up to 25 if the young person has a disability or additional need).

Some sessions are specifically just for younger or older children, please check with the Youth Hub before coming along. Activities are free but parents or carers must fill in a consent form before the young person can get involved.

Alongside the open activity sessions, the Youth Hub offers regular courses, such as cookery, and the chance to speak with careers advisors from the council’s aspiring futures team. These sessions are at specific times and need to be booked in advance.