The Janus Columns
Observing the past and looking ahead.
Letters to Janus:
Janus:20110228
Youth Clubs...
...or Clubbed Youths?
Once upon a time there was a village on the edge of the Chilterns surrounded by trees and fields. The good fairy thought more people should share this place so many new houses were built. There was a Primary and a Secondary school with a separate youth wing and community centre and as the people saw all this they gathered to enjoy their new community.
The good fairy, backed by the Barons of Oxford, appointed full and part time staff to support youth and community activities and everyone was happy.
Then the Barons, instructed by their overlords in the Palace of Westminster, removed the youth worker and drove out the societies and clubs, their money held in trust being taken away, and the Summer Playscheme closed because volunteers were unacceptable.
And lo! The young people had nothing to do and nowhere to go and the villagers felt threatened but the cold hearted Barons would have none of it - they had targets to meet. So the few remaining activities - like the lunch club for the older villagers who had given their lives to the village - were also closed so that the Barons could earn money renting their space.
The good fairy sat down and wept and told the villagers there was nothing more she could do - it's up to you to fight for your community.
(Courtesy: Peter Bussel, of Sonning Common, 1st full time Youth Worker and Community Education Worker 1973 - 1998)
And so to today! In 2005 the Thames Valley Police, concerned about rising crime and vandalism from bored youths trapped in a village with nowhere to go and little to do, formed a new management group to revitalise the youth club and everyone gathered around to help.
Within a year the club was growing and two new age groups formed the nucleus of new evening activities, sports in the sports hall below the club, and annual events and outings. By 2008 the club was thriving and everyone was happy.
Then it happened again. The Barons of Oxford decided the club would have to pay for using the sports hall they already owned. Pay with what? The club was run on a shoestring budget with management volunteers and a funding allocation which barely paid for the administration, let alone any youth activities. In addition they would have to do without any part time youth workers. But the club struggled on.
Now, February 2011, the Barons of Oxford say they will no longer cover any costs. Our village, almost a small town, with one of the biggest ratio of youths in South Oxfordshire will now loose their youth club in September unless the villagers somehow raise £25,000 per year to keep it open. More than that, to make it secure, they need to find three years funding in one go. The Oxford Barons have taken over the asylum.
Why are our youths, our future, bein clubbed? Has common sense been sold to the God Mammon?
(J)