New youth club up and running
A DEDICATED teenager who worked tirelessly to set up a youth club has seen his dream come true.
Jake Smith, 14, wanted a facility for like-minded young people to come together and have fun.
And after months of hard work and planning, Wembury Youth Club is finally up and running.
Jake said: "My hope for the future is to get as many people as possible to come along.
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"The more people who come, the more fun we can have."
Jake first decided to campaign for a club when he saw how many people were going along to a mobile youth club in Plymstock village.
He explained: "Quite a few people were going along to it all the time. I started a petition and got 41 signatures.
"Then I got in touch with a youth worker from the youth club that used to run in the village and also the leisure councillor for the parish council.
"They were really interested so we set up a committee."
Over the coming months, Jake worked with the adults on his committee to come up with a plan and policy.
He also played a pro-active role in securing public donations to ensure the club could get off the ground.
The Coombe Dean Academy pupil continued: "Wembury post office gave us sweets, Devon County Council donated £500, two local ladies from the shop bought us a box of sweets and the Old Wheel pub in Wembury gave us £100. We've had a lot of support."
The youth club opened last Friday night at the primary school hall with 23 young people coming along.
Jake said: "We just used it to get to know people and try to get an idea of what activities people want.
"We're now trying to get hold of a games console and we'll have sports activities like football and dodgeball."
But Jake's desire to make his community better doesn't end with the youth club.
The bright youngster has been a police cadet for the last year.
He said: "I've been able to use the skills I've learned as a cadet in starting the youth club, it's linked in well.
"I want to go into the police force and I've enrolled in police work experience in July.
"If you don't have a good community set up with active youths, that's when you can get problems.
"I care a lot about my community."
The youth club is open from 7pm to 9pm every Friday for 11-17 year olds. Entry is £1.
Comments
by Trotter1
Wednesday, January 16 2013, 4:44PM
“Well done youngster. I hope it's a great success.”