Home

Feature Articles

OnSide North West – a vision of the future? Hopefully.

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.

OnSide North West – a vision of the future? Hopefully.

Friday, 08 January 2010 14:46

onsidelogo The problem of anti-social behaviour is one that worries OnSide North West Chief Executive Jerry Glover. "When kids start hanging around on street corners then trouble is only just around the corner, and then school starts to suffer, as do relationships and it just gets worse from there."

All you have to do is turn on the TV or open a newspaper and you will hear something about anti-social behaviour. Some incidents are particularly shocking. And while there are constant calls to punish offenders, and rightly so, it has been proven that there are other, much more constructive and ultimately more successful methods.

They may sound like a stuck record but when youngsters are asked why they hang around on the streets at night, they more often than not answer along the lines of ‘well there is nothing else to do'. And this is what both myplace and OnSide are hoping to combat.

We all (I hope) know about myplace and what they are all about but a lot less is known about new charity OnSide North West. So here is the lowdown...

OnSide North West is a charity set up to provide 21^st Century Youth Zones around the north west of England. These Youth Zones will provide young people with purpose-built first-rate facilities at affordable prices in a safe, relaxed environment, and will finally ensure they can no longer claim there is nothing to do.

Funded by the North West Development Agency with additional support from the regional private sector, OnSide was set up to develop strong local partnerships within the public and private sectors. It will see centres open in Oldham, Manchester, Blackburn and Carlisle, the capital funding of which has come from myplace. However, there is a view to build further Youth Zones in Wigan, Warrington and Preston.

Chief Exec Jerry is an incredibly passionate man, just a few minutes on the phone is more than adequate evidence of that. He continues: "Too many young people, particularly those living in inner cities and on our poorest estates, start to get into trouble because there is nowhere decent for them to go.

"Yet talk to these young people and it is clear that this is not how they want to lead their lives, ask them what they want and they make a simple request for somewhere decent to go which is safe and affordable, offering something positive to do and perhaps - most importantly of all - someone to talk to when they need it."

You may recognise the name Jerry Glover (or Jerry Glover MBE to be precise), especially if you keep up-to-date with youth work news and networks. He is the current (although not for long) Chief Executive of the renowned Bolton Lads and Girls Club and has been for the past 31 years. He has seen the club grow from strength to strength and is widely admired for his commitment to youth work.

It is, in fact, Bolton Lads and Girls Club that is the inspiration behind OnSide. Long before both Onside and myplace were even a twinkle in the eye, the Lads and Girls club has provided a top quality youth facility for young people in Bolton and surrounding areas.

In 2002 it moved to a new, £5.1m purpose-built centre and it is this successful model that Jerry hopes to bring to OnSide.

"With OnSide we are wanting to transfer some of that knowledge and skills to the new projects. It is important that the young people get 21st century facilities, they won't want to come if the facilities aren't up to scratch.

"We hope that in five or ten years there will be a lot more centres, across the north west to start with, but then who knows. It is a working model that works regionally and so there is no reason why it can't work nationally as well."

When asked what makes a good youth centre, he rifles of a host of criteria as if setting one up is as simple as getting dressed in the morning. This man has been in the game a long time and appears as if youth work runs through his blood.

"The secret is to open long hours and fill the centre with activities, providing a safe environment. In this day and age we should be able to provide these facilities for the kids. It is not a lot to ask.

"It also has to be for young people only. Some centres have some adult services as well to provide revenue but when that happens the young people end up becoming marginalised."

He is also under no allusions as to what has kept him in the same job for well over a quarter of a century.

"It makes a real difference, especially to those from poorer areas. You get some kids with challenging situations but it makes a difference and can change lives for the better. It is such a wonderful feeling to get to know the kids and see how their lives have improved."

One such young person who has had his life turned around by Bolton Lads and Girls Club is Daryl Hosker. Daryl was one of those young people who didn't know what he wanted out of life. He was getting into trouble and had few thoughts about where his life was headed.

"When I first came here I was just a young lad who didn't care what he did or what he did to other people", he admits. "I was stubborn, arrogant, had bad manners, no responsibilities and used to get into fights, drinking and things.

However, since then, and thanks to the club he has got himself a job and really turned his life around.

"But when I came to the club, it was being given the opportunity of volunteering that changed me. When I was looking at the other people and how they were with the kids, that was my turning point.

"They made me realise I could be that person and change the lives of other people too. I saw things as they should be seen for the first time instead of seeing what I wanted to see. But working with the kids changed me, it made me more realistic and gave me a pathway.

"The BLGC has completely changed my life. It has transformed me from being a little Manchester lad into what I am now, with a job I love and a good future in a big company. It is a big result for me."

Daryl's story is just one of many from young people at the Lads and Girls Club, and it is exactly these kinds of stories that OnSide want to help create.

With Jerry Glover at the helm it is clear that knowledge and enthusiasm will not be of short supply, and if the Youth Zones are anywhere near as successful as the Bolton Lads and Girls Club then young people across the north west are in for something very special.

< Prev		Next >

Latest Events

No events

Watch the videos!

Got something you want to tell everyone about? Why not tell us and we'll pass it on.

Request an Ambassador Visit

Climbing the Walls?

Claim a Free Guide

Check out our Vimeo group myplace Support to view/share videos, discuss in our forum and more!

Case Studies

Southpoint- Blackpool
Using social enterprise to make a project sustainable

Background

Blackpool is in the throes of regeneration. Major physical changes are taking place throughout the town. An example of these changes is the headlands development on the seafront, recently highlighted as the celebration point for the homecoming of the successful football team. Thousands of people gathered to celebrate the promotion to the premiership. The combination of the people and the backdrop made for such a memorable event.

Wallasey Youth Hub - Wirral
Locating a youth hub in a fire station

Wirral Hub

When the young people of Wirral heard they were going to get a new and exciting youth hub they could hardly have guessed just how innovative it would be. Wirral certainly has a contender for most unusual place to build a youth hub - it was launched in a fire station!

Councillor Sheila Clarke, Wirral's Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Lifelong Learning said: "This really is a breakthrough for all residents in the area. No more bored teenagers hanging around corners with nothing to do. The hubs have been designed with a high degree of input from young people themselves who have worked with enthusiasm and passion to help establish these new facilities."

Toxteth Youth and Sports Centre - Liverpool
Engaging young people from different backgrounds

Toxteth Youth

In the aftermath of the 1981 race riots in Liverpool, Toxteth Centre was built as part of an effort to increase services for the city's racial minority residents. In this it was successful, but the centre now wants to develop and expand to become predominantly a youth facility and bring people of all races together at a refurbished and expanded facility. They envision a centre where young people of all backgrounds and from all over the city have fun and get support together. In March 2009 it was awarded ?2.3 million of myplace funding to achieve this goal. With the funding, Toxteth Youth and Sports Centre has embarked on an ambitious plan to expand and improve its facilities, activities and outreach to bring together young people from a wide variety of ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds.

Culture Fusion - Bradford
Partnership and co-locations of service

Culture Fusion

One of the challenges many communities face is overcoming deeply entrenched territorial and racial divides. At the aptly named Culture Fusion, in Bradford, young people are leading the charge in overcoming this challenge in their community. Jenny Bass, Bradford Council Youth Participation Worker, points out that there are lots of young people that are proud of the area's diversity and who want to celebrate it rather than perpetuate the tensions and divides that exist. So what does it take to create a myplace centre that provides a place for these young people to tackle these challenges, get the services they need, and of course, have fun? Read more...

United Teens Equality Centre (UTEC) - Lowell, Massachusetts
Innovative funding ideas

These days, teenagers often feel their potential is ignored by judgemental communities, but across the Atlantic, the residents of Lowell, in Massachusetts, have been celebrating the achievements of its young people and their involvement in the United Teen Equality Centre.

UTEC website

UTEC has an active youth membership of about 1000, nine full-time paid staff, and runs 18 different classes and programmes every week, and will soon be expanding their facilities and making them fully accessible and energy efficient.

Director of Development Jessica Wilson said: "It's the place you go if you want to talk to teens."

myplace Chesterfield - Derbyshire
Involving young people with a disability

Myplace Chesterfield

Involving young people in the planning of myplace centres can mean a lot of different things, but at myplace Chesterfield, it means making sure young people who are often left out of the process are included.Making Chesterfield myplace somewhere that young people with disabilities can hang out and get support alongside other young people has been a key part of their design plans.It seems obvious in theory, but when it comes to practical considerations, what makes a youth centre friendly to a mix of disabled and non-disabled young people?

Westfield Folk House - Mansfield, Notts
Partnership and co-locations of service

Objectives

A scheme to transform Westfield Folk House Young People's Centre in Mansfield has won a £5 million myplace 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.

Bolton Lads & Girls Club -Lancashire

A renowned youth social club 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.

Hornsey Road Baths - Islington
Creating a compelling case for change

Hornsey Road Baths 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.

Boclair Academy - BearsdenGlasgow
Involving young people through film

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.

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.