Four youth projects run from a popular South East Northumberland community centre have been awarded a four-figure grant from the Banks Community Fund.
The Buffalo Community Centre in Blyth welcomes more than 100 young people to its Regent Street premises on three nights every week, with different sessions set up for local children from 6-16 years old and for young people with special educational needs from age 13 to 25.
The sessions are designed to enable young people to learn new skills, gain confidence and self-esteem, developing positive relationships and have fun with their friends in a safe and welcoming place that offers opportunities which might otherwise not be available to them.
Activities range from healthy eating sessions, arts and crafts and gardening through to baking, healthy lifestyle, anti-bullying and litter picking.
The topics for each session are agreed by those attending them, in order to give the young people ownership of the different things that they choose to do.
In order to help with its ongoing cost of running the sessions, the Community Centre has now been given a £1,000 grant by North East employer the Banks Group, which is a long-term supporter of the charity’s work.
The Buffalo Community Centre provides a wide variety of services and projects to help improve the lives of local people of all ages, establishing strong community structures and working in partnership with other local providers from both the voluntary and statutory sector.
It works with all members of the community and is especially focused working with local people that are the hardest to reach.
The Centre is predominantly self-funded, with regular fundraising activities put on to help bring in the money needed to cover its costs.
Deputy manager and youth leader Dale Cartie says: “We’re based in an area of high deprivation, with local families facing a wide range of different challenges that can impact on the opportunities that our young people can access.
“The different sessions we put on are designed to develop the life skills and self-confidence that will give them the best chance of making successful lives for themselves.
“We see at first hand just how much of a difference these sessions make to our young people, and while we’ve been facing the cost of living crisis like everyone else lately, we’re determined to keep delivering as much as we can for all our users.
“The Banks Group has been a long-term supporter of our work and their continuing generosity makes a huge difference to what we’re able to offer to the local community.”
Jamilah Hassan, community manager at the Banks Group, adds: “We’ve been supporting community organisations in this part of South East Northumberland for many decades and know just how much of a difference our support makes to what they can achieve.
“The Buffalo Community Centre team is absolutely dedicated to making every possible opportunity and resource available that they can to local people and we’re very pleased to be continuing to support their excellent work.”
Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Banks Community Fund should first contact the fund manager via fundmanager@bankscommunityfund.org.uk or on 0191 378 6342 before applying for a grant to check if their group or project is eligible.