Youth club leaves community centre after space cut

A youth club's leaders have said they feel "unwanted" and "pushed out" of a community centre after their storage space at the site was reduced.

Dearne Kids is relocating from Houghton Road Community Centre in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley, to a new venue following a review of their arrangements with the charity's committee.

The committee said the group had not been asked to leave, but that "increased demand" to use the facility meant their set-up time and storage had been cut.

Dearne Kids manager Sarah Greenfield said: "I've been crying all week. This is a community group. We should be able to meet in our community. It's a lifeline for these people."

The youth group and a weekly lunch club will move to a new location two miles away which volunteers fear is less accessible for some service users.

Dearne Kids was originally set up in 1994 as an "outward bound" club for friends and neighbours. Greenfield attended as a child before staying on to volunteer in her teens.

"We get a lot of children from different kinds of backgrounds and countries. Some are poor and hungry. It's not neglect, their parents are on the breadline.

"Some of these kids are not going to be able to come any more, and that breaks my heart."

The club runs activities for children and teenagers, and will now be based at BODY Carnegie, a boxing gym in Bolton upon Dearne.

Greenfield said their new landlords were "lovely and willing to help in any way".

The changes from the committee at Houghton Road Community Centre came after a "comprehensive review" of the agreement with Dearne Kids.

Greenfield confirmed that reducing set-up and clear-up time to half an hour before and after sessions and limiting storage and office space was "unworkable" for both the youth club and the lunch group.

"We cook for people who are really struggling, who need a hot meal, we need time to set those sessions up properly and not rush clients away afterwards.

"One of the older ladies at lunch won't be able to come to Bolton, she's over 80 and she struggles so much with her mobility, but only lives a step away from this place.

"She won't travel two miles."

Adrian Mountford is the treasurer of Dearne Kids. He said they feel like they're "not wanted".

"It's a community building, loads of other people using it are not even from the community.

"We cannot work without having somewhere to securely store personnel files.

"The new office the're giving us is a third of the size, with no telephone line or windows or even cupboards."

In a statement the committee said: "At present, we are having to turn away potential groups because of limited storage capacity, which impacts the centre's long-term sustainability. As a committee, we must ensure fairness and accessibility for all groups.

"Larger storage areas have previously been provided on a goodwill basis, but we are no longer able to continue this arrangement in the same way.

"We have therefore asked Dearne Kids youth club to relocate their stored equipment from the current larger room to a smaller storage space within the building.

"We would like to make it clear that we are not asking Dearne Kids to leave the centre or stop their activities."

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