Youth club facing another winter without a home

Jo Ramsay, the manager of the Cherry Tree Youth Club said: "It feels like we're still at a standstill."

A youth club in Beverley which has been without a home since the Covid pandemic has warned young people in the town are facing another winter without a place to meet.

The club had to move out of the Cherry Tree Community Centre when its meeting room was repurposed as a food pantry to serve hard-pressed local families.

It was granted planning permission in October to create a small base in a local park but needs to raise £90,000 to convert shipping containers into a safe space.

Local MP Graham Stuart was contacted by the youth club managers and has arranged to meet Policing Minister Diana Johnson to call for more funding for the club's new base.

Volunteers and young people they support invited the BBC to a typical session in October where young people made the most of a meal under a gazebo in the rain

In the meantime, the club meets outside in a local park with young people having to brave the wintry weather to take part in activities.

Youth club manager Jo Ramsay said: "It feels like we're still at a standstill.

"I contacted our MP to let him know we had 150 young people turn up on a Friday night and I'm concerned there could be a serious incident."

'Incredible work'

She manages the Cherry Tree Community Centre, which set up the youth club in 2016 for children aged between nine and 18. It now engages with about 90 young people each week.

Although the youth club receives some funding from sources including the National Lottery, Ms Ramsay said it needed "quite a lot more" to survive.

She said: "Is there going to be some money set aside for youths throughout the East Riding, not only in Beverley?

"It's not just a youth club where kids will come to play games and make things. It's early intervention which is key to help mental health, help with debts if they get into debts. It's preventative."

Mr Stuart said he would use his meeting with the policing minister to make the case for more government funding to improve the life chances of the young people in the area.

He said: "The work Jo and the team at Cherry Tree Centre do to support young people on Swinemoor is incredible, and it is only right that they have a permanent location to provide this from.

"That's why I raised this vital issue in Parliament and am so pleased to have the opportunity to persuade the minister that the government should offer financial assistance to this amazing project.

"I wish I could do more to help make this happen, but I hope this is another step in the right direction."