Kids on the right track at Heywood Youth Link

Kids on the right track at Heywood Youth Link

Young people in Heywood are flocking to Old Hucky’s for a slice of mentoring, a dash of education, and a heap of fun.

Heywood Youth Link is a one-to-one mentoring service for young people aged 10 and up at the centre on York Street.

Jenny Kennedy, 57, the project manager, said: “It’s named after Old Hucky’s, which used to be a restaurant here well-known amongst young people. Mike Huck, the former owner is patron to the charity.”

“Projects are run everyday. Last week, we had 56 different young people attending, some nights we would welcome over 100 in as many come along each night.

“One of our aims is to get young people back into education, training or employment, but even more importantly, we are here to guide and support young people through any issues they may be facing.”

On a Monday evening they hold a body image and healthy living session. About 15 young people come along to discuss smoking, drugs and alcohol, and how to look after themselves.

Young people attend voluntarily, and come to the centre for a variety of reasons.

They run a New Roots program on Tuesday afternoons for young ex-offenders, with referrals made by the Youth Offenders Team.

They have also been working with the Halle Orchestra education programme.

By February, one group of youngsters will have produced a DVD, after taking part in a specialist project which looks at poetry, music and behaviour.

On Wednesdays, ‘Dream Scheme’ enables young people to perform jobs, visit old people’s homes and make things. Each task earns points for the group which are exchanged for money for a group trip.

Ms Kennedy continued: “At the moment they are making Christmas tree decorations. They don’t get the money, they have to decide how to use the money. They may choose to go ice-skating for example, so they have to think about the cost of a minibus too.”

“On Saturdays, lots of young people drop-in. Some stay all day and they have fun.

“We have a cellar which we’re hoping to make into a recording studio, so they are helping to clear it out at the moment.”

By January, the Youth Link is hoping to become a registered charity. They have just been accredited with the Open College Network award despite only opening on York Street at the end of October.

They receive donations and sponsorship but as a non-profit organisation, they are in need of more funds and are looking for local businesses to sponsor them.

Ms Kennedy said: “We are relying on the good will of the local community and as a token of our appreciation we will add the businesses name to our roll of honour within the centre.”

All mentors and staff are volunteers, and as a qualified tutor, Ms Kennedy trains mentors for programmes such as ‘At Work’ and ‘Skills for You’ at the centre, generating income for the mentoring service.

Most volunteers help for 3-4 hours a week and many adults from Heywood have furthered their success by gaining paid work in the youth sector. “The charity trains local people,” said Ms Kennedy. “Four adult mentors have gone onto university and have taken further qualifications in youth work.”

As an adult mentor you are trained in Level 3 OCN with mentoring, which is an accredited course.

The next training course will run in February and March.

Jenny said: “We also do other courses such as the Inside Out course to build people’s self esteem.

“I could see there was a desperate need for this in the town. Many see their parents on benefits and don’t realise they can break the cycle.

“We’re giving adults opportunities in the town as well as young people. I have been really pleased with the outcome. We have 25 volunteers but need more.”

Jenny and her team are even opening up on Christmas Eve because one young person had been thinking of coming in to wrap Christmas presents there.

“That just shows how much we want to support them. We have to be flexible in the way we work,” she said.

“It is about occupying them to keep them out of trouble or occupying them to stop their isolation.”

“They don’t think they’re going to benefit from things. It’s about looking at their thought processes and empowering people to feel good about themselves.”

A lot of the fundraising ideas also come from the young people. They will be holding monthly coffee mornings on the first Saturday of each month, with the next being held on 2 January.

“I can’t believe how quickly it has got off the ground. Teachers were telling the young people we were here and one teacher donated to help get the centre open.

“If they are struggling in school, kids are brought in and do school work via a computer. We have two young people doing that at the moment.”

“It’s the young people who think of fundraising ideas like the ‘old broken gold’ jewellery exchange. We raised £320 last week I have seen a difference in the kids. They want to own it. They feel it is theirs. They have the confidence and want to do things.”

The centre is open from 2pm till 9pm Monday to Friday, and 10.30am till 4.30pm on Saturdays. For more information go to www.heywoodyouthlink.org or call 01706 360108.