First myplace centre OPENs in Norwich

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The first myplace centre has finally opened its doors to the public.   The appropriately titled OPEN centre in Norwich celebrated its opening with a week jam packed with activities, performances, and the showcasing of the fantastic facilities on offer.   The centre's grand opening took place on 27th October and was opened by Minister for Children and Young People, Dawn Primarolo and features a host of world class facilities and available activities such as a 1,450 capacity live venue, a climbing wall, dance studio, media lab, recording studio, and the UK's first exclusively under 18 nightclub.

During the opening, the Minister was taken on a tour around the centre and was shown, by some of the young people, what it has to offer. A skate park was constructed in the main hall and a team of young people set about tagging a stairwell with graffiti they had designed with professional designers.

The tour then continued through the games rooms, which featured table football, air hockey and games consoles, and into the media lab, recording studio and nightclub where the minister was encouraged to try her hand at a bit of DJing.

Speaking at the opening, the Minister said: "Creating world class places for young people to go to in their spare time has now become a reality across the country. OPEN is the first of many myplace projects to open its door to young people. This is another important milestone in delivering the Government's commitment to making this the best country in the world for our children to grow up in.

"We have put young people in the lead on decisions about myplace projects like OPEN because we believe in their creative talent and that they are the best people to design and plan the places their generation and future generations will want to attend and enjoy - particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. I am especially pleased that this successful project will be incorporating a range of new digital technologies, cultural, multi-media, performing arts and sporting activities."

Joining the Minister at the launch was inspirational former soldier and myplace ambassador Major Phil Packer. Phil was paralysed from the waist down whilst serving in Iraq in 2008 and now works to improve the life of disabled young people. Despite this he has undertaken some phenomenal challenges such as the London Marathon and climbing Mountain El Capitan.

He said: "It is my mission to support Young People with Disabilities. If I can enthuse Young People in general to try sports, challenge themselves and push the boundaries, then I am making thebest of my life.

"I recognise that inspiration and passion comes from many areas of our society and myplace understands and provides this through a wide range of activities including sport, music and the arts. As a myplace Ambassador, I hope I assist in facilitating a wider knowledge of the superb opportunities on offer."

OPEN received a myplace grant of over £1.3m and has employed exemplary youth involvement, with young people taking part in designing, running and managing the centre. This commitment to the young people really shows in their enthusiasm and excitement over the project.

Rob, 18, one of the young people involved in the creation of OPEN said: "I was part of the group that looked at the building plans, did fundraisers, chose the furniture and learned a lot about charity work. The OPEN project's awesome and it should inspire other cities to do similar projects."

Similarly, Josh, 14, said: "It's about time something really big happened for young people in Norwich and Norfolk, and this is without a doubt it! It really is something to be proud of, giving me the chance to have so much more fun and so much more freedom."

Although the Under 18 nightclub has been open for a couple of months, the opening of the main centre was celebrated by an entire week of exciting goings on.

There were DJing masterclasses, filmmaking workshops, climbing wall tutorials and a host of other events. They also held an OPEN Live event in which top pop stars Kano and Example played to a packed out auditorium. The week culminated in a huge Halloween party which saw over 600 young people get dressed up and celebrate all the hard work that has gone into the project.

Russ Dacre, Project Director of OPEN, said: "It's been very exciting to go so quickly from nothing to where we are today. myplace has helped us deliver an amazing venue for the young people of Norfolk, we're delighted to be blazing the trail for all the other myplace centres that will be launched in coming years."

As the pictures show, the opening was a great day, and the centre looks fantastic, with some truly world class facilities. If this is a benchmark for other myplace projects to work towards then as they open over the next couple of years, young people throughout the country really have something to look forward to.

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