SO OFTEN when you read about young people involved in vandalism or anti-social behaviour, the reason that is given is boredom.

It can be difficult for youngsters who are old enough to want to go out, but too young to go into pubs or into Northampton in the evening.

As the evenings get longer later in the year, many of these youngsters will be hanging about outside with nowhere particular to go.

The Hills Community Association has done some great work to try to deal with this problem.

They were responsible for the Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) next to Hunsbury Park Primary School, and Lou Tyler who is involved with Hills Community Association also set up and runs the Youth Club for young people aged 10-15 years at Camp Hill Community Centre every Tuesday evening from 7.30 to 9pm

The idea of a Youth Club is to give youngsters somewhere warm, dry and safe to meet together once a week with adult supervision.

I’m sure that many local parents are extremely grateful that there is such a service locally.

However there are some challenges that might lead to the loss of this valuable service……. First, Lou Tyler and a couple of other people run this Club every week, but they need more help.

Could you help?

This request was included in the last FOCUS. If you are a parent, and are grateful that this Club is there, could you give one Tuesday a month to ensure it keeps going?

Second, the Youth Club’s booking has recently been pushed out by other users of the Centre such as WI and Blood Donors.

Important as both WI and Blood Donors are, it really matters to the young people that their meetings are every week on the same day. This needs to be sorted out with the Community Centre.

Finally, young people are asked to pay just 50p a week towards the cost of running the Club, but some don’t pay.

The message if you want to keep this Club are therefore simple, please volunteer to help* even if it’s only once a month, please give your young people the entry fee, and if you manage Centre bookings please don’t treat the Youth Club as a booking that can be dropped if something else comes along.

*email Lou Tyler on [email protected]