Home

Welcome to the myplace support website, where projects and young people showcase their achievements and find essential information on projects and youth centres. Find out about the programme and the support team in About Us.

Learn everything you ever wanted to know and more about building and running a world class youth facility. Join the website and gain full access to the latest myplace programme guidance and support materials in our Library.

Why not Connect with other myplace projects. Find out how they are doing and share your own experiences with them.

At myplace we Celebrate not just the latest programme News but everything we hear about in the busy world of youth activities and centres. Our popular Feature Articles, Case Studies, Inspirationals and Promotional advice celebrate not just new projects but existing ones too.

As a website member you can interact with myplace by posting Comments, signing up to upcoming Events, and taking part in discussions and debates through our Forums.

And if all this isn't enough you can sign-up to our e-Newsletter and have it all delivered to your inbox!

Projects in your area...

Locations:

Select Region

Open Map

Interactive Map

The map shows where to find the myplace projects approved so far.

There are 21 Fast-track and 41 Standard Track myplace projects throughout England. You can find out a bit more about projects by clicking on the map.

Click a Region to see a list of projects funded by myplace.

Shokk Horror...

Your chance to design your way to a skateboarding first

How would you like to have your design on your very own skateboard? Well now is your chance. SHOKK, a supplier of gym equipment and programmes specifically designed for young people, have donated a skateboard for our SHOKK Horror competition. The winner will have their design printed onto a skateboard and it will be unique. Only one will ever be made.

The winner will be presented with their exclusive board at the myplace Festival in July, so get your crayons out. The rules are pretty simple....

Read more...

New Horizons centre gets re-launch

Last November saw the opening of the first myplace centre in Norwich and since then there has been a real buzz around the myplace community. The OPEN centre showed that there is light at the end of the tunnel and with hard work you can produce a world-class centre for young people in your area. Now, fast-forward a few months and we are celebrating the opening of another new centre, this time the New Horizons centre in the London borough of Holborn and St Pancreas.

Technically, New Horizons was more of a re-launch than a grand opening but it has still seen a major overhaul and facelift and will hopefully now be seen as a flagship centre for young people in central London.

Situated a stone's throw away from the British Library, the project, which was the recipient of £1.5m of myplace funding, focuses more on services rather than activities, with counselling and accommodation services high on the agenda, although there are plenty of things to keep most young people occupied.

Walking into New Horizons the first thing that hits you is how friendly and welcoming the staff are. You don't have to hang around for long before someone comes along and sees what they can do to help you, and this is exactly the kind of treatment that young people need. It can be a daunting thing walking into a new place but the first impressions of New Horizons is excellent, and first impressions mean a lot.

Read more...

Latest News

Young People to Create an Olympic Legacy: The future legacy of the Olympic games is to be decided by young people in London.The Legacy Youth Panel is made up of 22 young people between the ages of 13 and 21, chosen from the give host boroughs of London: Newham, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets.

Read more...
British Stars Set to Align at South by Southwest: myplace Ambassador Ras Kwame's Urban Music Showcase is tipped to be one of the highlights of the British Music Embassy this year at the renowned South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

Read more...
Media Skills for disadvantaged young people funded by Mediabox: A funding scheme, set up to help disadvantaged 13-19 year olds in England develop and produce creative media projects, is now open for applications. Mediabox gives disadvantaged young people the chance to create media projects about issues that matter to them, from film and journalism to digital media and campaigns.

Read more...
Government announce funding for arts graduates: A two-year grants programme to provide at least 40 internships at established arts companies for graduates with deprived backgrounds has been announced.

Read more...
A Big Challenge for Young People: The Big Challenge competition for young people is launching at the end of April. The contest, now in its second year, challenges young people aged 16 and 25 to come up with an idea that will make a change in their community.

Read more...
Evidence that Capacitybuilders make third sector services more sustainable: A series of case studies examining how the services from third sector support providers have become more sustainable using funding from Capacitybuilders in England are now available from their Improving Support website.

Read more...

Latest Events

Thu, Mar 18th, @10:30am - 02:00PM
Strategy seminar (Norwich)

Fri, Mar 26th, @10:30am - 02:00PM
Strategy seminar (Newcastle)

Wed, Apr 28th, @10:00am - 04:00PM
Marketing with Streetscape

Competition
Design your own Skateboard with

Document Library

library

Find everything you need to get your project up and running.

Click Here to see our latest videos!

Inspirationals

myplace Chesterfield

Heather Fawbert didn't have to go far to find the perfect spot for myplace Chesterfield. She discovered the site - an expanse of open space: tennis courts and overgrown, disused allotments that hadn't been dug for over fifteen years - on her way to work.

myplace Mansfield

On his first visit to Westfield Folk House, the Grade II listed building which is currently being transformed into a myplace for Mansfield, architect Rudi Marecki spotted some graffiti.

vine_lane_newcastle_1

myplace Newcastle-upon-Tyne

The thing about myplace, and all new buildings in fact, is that the really good ones tend not to spring up overnight. World-class buildings need time. You just have to be patient.

myplace_havering_1

myplace Havering

"It's like that music venue in Australia," says Charlotte, as she pours over a book on architecture, with page after page of beautifully photographed buildings. It turns out that she's referring to the Sydney Opera House.

nicoleburke When Nicole Burke addressed the Blackpool business community at the Pleasure Beach at the end of the Knowsley and Blackpool ambassadors event, her audience was gripped. Nicole talked about what myplace meant for the young people of Blackpool, and people immediately wanted to get involved. Nicole made it sound like fun. People started to think of offering help in ways they hadn't thought of before. Good communication sparks creativity in all of us.

jenna_ambassadors

myplace Knowsley
"Bring a buddy for a bacon butty"

It's not your run-of-the-mill recruitment ad, is it? But then, working with the Ourplace Forum in Knowsley isn't your run-of-the-mill kind of job.

myplace Leicester
Miracles do still happen

There's a newspaper cutting stuck on the wall outside one of the dressing rooms in the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Written by Sheridan Morley in August 2004, and published in the Daily Express, it talks about the Haymarket's performance starring Ronni Ancona. "Singin' In The Rain that reigns supreme," is how the glowing review begins. It was just one of many glowing reviews for the myriad musicals staged in this theatre.

carlisle_youth_zone1 As part of my role as a young consultant I visit myplace projects to see how they are involving young people. There have been a number that have stood out and impressed me for a variety of different reasons, however one in particular that I found stood out was the myplace project in Carlisle. This project has involved young people from the beginning, sending them to leading youth centres in and around London to find out what they want in their centre and involving them in the design process.

myplace Hartlepool
Hartlepool's Got Talent

Hartlepool's got talent. Loads of it. So much talent in fact, that the town recently held not one talent contest, but two: Hartlepool's Got Talent and Hartlepool Has Talent.

Beth Marshall, a key young person in the myplace team, who has a big talent for guitar playing, singing, and doing cover versions of Jack Johnson and The Beatles, lights up when she talks about the excitement behind the scenes at Hartlepool Has Talent.

myplace Bristol
No Height Restrictions

"Do you have to be a certain age?" The question comes from the audience, from a six-year-old boy called Adam. We're in a dramatically lit, makeshift auditorium in Bristol's former Bridewell Fire Station, in the heart of the city. It's not a question that anyone else has thought of. But Adam has a point. It's a good question to ask. Because at the moment, he's too young for myplace. When he gets his answer, "13-19", he realises that he will have to wait a few years - seven, to be precise.

Case Studies

Westfield Folk House - result of a structured programme for development

Objectives: A scheme to transform Westfield Folk House Young People's Centre in Mansfield has won a £5 million fmyplace grant. This case study shows how the project developed from a logical and well structured plan to boost youth provision following years of under-investment. Successfully involving young people in planning and decision making has played a major role in this. Read more...

Bolton Lads and Girls Club is a renowned youth social club in Bolton, Lancashire.

It was set up in 1889 to provide a safe place for young lads, particularly those working in the mills, to enjoy leisure activities. boltonbuilding

Over the next century the club grew and grew and began letting girls in from 1991. After further development it was decided that the original 19^th century building could be stretched no more and needed updating.

This case study highlights the work done by Islington Council in securing local buy-in and agreement to a forward strategy for youth facilities. This allowed them to engage over 3500 stakeholders and create a compelling case for change that resulted in an overarching strategy for young people aged 11-19. islington_logo

Young Peoples Production Company
Boclair Academy, Glasgow

Boclair Academy is a secondary school in Bearsden; a small commuting town three miles north of Glasgow. In 2005 the school got funding from the Scottish Arts Council through a bid by the local authority (East Dunbartonshire Council) to develop a purpose-built digital film studio on the school campus.

“The investment Pegasus will make in young people individually and the benefits young people will gain as a member of the group will help them develop responsible attitudes, encourage them to take an active role in their community and act as role models for their peers and other young people.”
Euton Daley, Artistic Director, Pegasus Theatre

At Pegasus, we present exciting contemporary dance and theatre work from all over the world, made by both young people and professional artists. We aim for all our activities to be both accessible and affordable.
Read more...

The Salmon Youth Centre, known as Salmon, is a Christian-run project that seeks to work with young people of all faiths and none. It is located in Bermondsey, London. Their focus is youth work, an extended youth centre; voluntary activity in the leisure time of young people that helps them move along a pathway from apathy through involvement to engagement. salmonyouthcentre
Salmon has been awarded cash from myplace for a one-year project to complete an extension to the pre-existing youth facility, which will cost just over £1.1 million.