A community celebration has been held to mark the first birthday of a state-of-the-art youth and community hub in Byker – and the second birthday of one of the most important members of its team!
The Lighthouse Project, which was created through an 18-month long renovation of St Michael’s Church on Saint Michael’s Mount, hosts a broad range of activities and services centred around young people.
Since officially opening its doors last summer, the venue has attracted almost 1,000 local children and adult members, and has seen almost 6,000 individual attendances at its various sessions.
Children from the nearby Byker Primary School and St Lawrence Catholic Primary School, who have been regular users of the venue through its first 12 months, took part in a range of activities at the community celebration, including sports, cooking, DJ-ing and outdoor challenges.
And they joined with other members of the local community to wish a happy second birthday to Otis, The Lighthouse Project’s resident cockapoo who is being trained to be a therapy dog when he is older.
During its first year, members of The Lighthouse Project team took pupils from its two local schools down to Westminster to be part of an event about the benefits of youth clubs and to speak to MPs about all the different things they’ve done within the new building.
Ben Roman, chief executive at The Lighthouse Project, says: “We’ve surpassed our expectations for the project’s first year and it’s been great to celebrate everything that we’ve achieved with the community that it was designed for.
“We’ve focused building trust and developing our presence in the community. This local engagement is proof that hyper-local community spaces are in real need and that we’re fulfilling the role we’d hoped to when we first opened our doors.
“Otis is loved by everyone who visits us and marking his birthday alongside the building’s gave us a great chance for a double celebration.”
Activities offered by The Lighthouse Project include an open access youth club for juniors and seniors, homework clubs, family health & wellbeing programmes and a forest school.
Office, meeting & storage facilities are available for local community partner organisations, while the building is also home to the Byker Scout Group.
Mentoring, special educational needs support and detached youth work is being delivered in cooperation with local delivery partners, while the building also includes a purpose-built youth club annexe, arts & performance spaces, e-sports suite, music rehearsal space, outdoor sports area, a nature trail.
The team is currently working on several exciting new projects and services that will be introduced next year.
Ben Roman continues: “This is a landmark, long-term project that is already delivering a huge range of benefits for the people of Byker and the wider city.
“We’re only at the beginning of what we believe we can achieve and will be launching lots of new projects in the new year that we hope can make even more of a difference here.”
The Lighthouse Project was made possible by a £4.2m grant from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s Youth Investment Fund, as well as substantial funding from the Lord Crewe Trust and The Squires Foundation.
A number of well-known regional businesses and organisations, including British Engines and Ringtons, are supporting the venue through long-term funding and partnership work.
For further information, please visit https://thelighthouseproject.org.uk/ or follow @lighthouseprojectbyker on Instagram.