Youth club aims to grow to help more young people

The director of a youth club in Nuneaton has suggested more communities should come together to give young people something do and keep them out of trouble.

Camp Hill Community CIC runs a youth club twice a week for up to 50 young people.

It was set up nearly two years ago after a group of local people in the area got together to tackle antisocial behaviour and county lines drug gangs.

Director Emma Shiers said it had taken time for it become popular: ''We had like two or three kids turning up, we had no money, then we got funding so we could deliver things in the holidays. We could make sure they had food, activities, trips'.'

The youth club relies on volunteers to give up their time to run it on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Donna is one of those who regularly helps out, and her two children Nancy and Lawson also attend.

Donna said she got a lot out of volunteering: ''I just love kids, I love being around them, I think they're amazing, you see a lot of kids that are in need and it's not good.

"I just feel that they need a lot of help and guidance, and if I help here it makes a little bit of a difference."

Shiers is a former councillor in the area and said during her time as an elected official she had been dismayed there were not more activities for young people, particularly outside of term-time.

She said the area was facing high levels of antisocial behaviour and that many in the area had "lost hope".

The Camp Hill Education Sports and Social Centre across the road from the parish church also offers youth activities and Shiers said the CIC had targeted sessions on different days of the week to complement those, as well as putting on sessions for different age groups throughout the year.

She added the group's funding had come from a number of sources, including the Coalfield Regeneration Trust, the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, Asda and Warwickshire County Council.

Shiers also explained the group was looking to expand and find a permanent base instead of the church hall at Camp Hill parish church.

''We're trying to do as much as possible, but we're wanting to grow, get our own premises and having somewhere that's run by the community for the community, so that ultimately it's not an organisation coming in and 'doing to', it is the community doing it for themselves''.

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