Blackpool youth club teams get out on the streets to meet youngsters amid lockdown

The coronavirus lockdown meant that the clubs had to close and the vital social meeting place and support was taken away from vulnerable youngsters in two of Blackpool's most deprived wards.

Reports of anti-social behaviour during lockdown and seeing how some of the youngsters were finding it tough, led the club leaders to set up outreach groups to re-engage with the club members.

Youth worker Dave Blacker said: "We have been sending teams of youth workers onto the streets around both of our two youth centres in Mereside and Brunswick Wards.

"We have been working in cooperation with our local police teams and Inspector Dave Wilson, in providing a friendly and safe atmosphere for us all to work in and our teams have had a very positive response from the many groups and individual young people they have already engaged with.

"There have been reports of anti-social behaviour in some areas and we wanted to get out there and meet the club members to make sure they were all right and to engage with as many as possible. I think it might be a case of some people don't understand what they have got until it is gone and only now appreciate what the clubs do for everyone in Blackpool.

"The youngsters have been really pleased to see them and have told them how much they are missed.

"We have had some great support from the council and we are currently preparing goody bags containing a range of games, information and news, about how they can play an important role in safely reactivating activities at the BB&GC sites.

"Our intention is to re-open our centres as soon as possible, with strict guidelines in place, in order to keep our members, staff and visitors safe."

One of the youth workers going out regularly to meet the youngsters who normally visit the clubs is Adam Riley.

He said: "The coronavirus has had a severe impact on all of us - young people have experienced mental health issues and severe disruption to their social life. While working during lockdown, I have spoken to a number of young people, on how lockdown life has made them feel.

"It is not being able to directly interact with their friends at school or college that seems to have affected them most.

"Some, but not all, have struggled with mental health issues and felt trapped and alone. Many have found it difficult to talk to friends and family about their true feelings.

"With the easing of lockdown recently, I have seen many more of our young people who attend our club walking around the streets. Now we are, for the first time since the crisis began, able to put small teams of workers onto the street.

"You can feel the thaw is beginning by the warmth of their greeting, and the sense of anticipation that normality is at least in sight on the not too distant horizon."