  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.
"There was a lad who painted graffiti art on the side of building," remembers Rudi, who works for the Nottingham-based firm Lewis & Hickey. "And there was the shape of a lady's face. She looked Regency in style. We've ended up taking that graffiti art and making a repeat pattern for the fencing and also for the gates."
Not exactly Regency, but a lady nonetheless, was a former resident in the building: Miss Rachel Manners. Her father, Charles Manners, was one of the founders of a Mansfield firm which became part of the Metal Box Company, one of the main employers in the area.
Miss Manners ran youth groups for girls during the thirties with activities including folk dancing, keep fit, drama, sewing, growing flowers and vegetables, lip reading with the Deaf Institute, Brownies and Girl Guides.
"The Folk House goes back generations," explains Sharron Adey, worker in charge, Westfield Folk House Youth Club. "It's part of the history of Mansfield. Rachel Manners was annoyed that all the young girls who worked in the Metal Box and Shoe Co factories were out on the streets after work. Today, you can talk to anyone in Mansfield, and they will know the Folk House."
The early youth groups for girls later expanded to include boys, when new activities such as weight lifting, Morris dancing, sword dancing and chess were introduced.
By all accounts, Rachel Manners was a woman with boundless energy. She worked in a munitions factory during World War I; she became a Justice of the Peace; she was Vice-President of the Nottinghamshire County Guides; she co-founded the Robin Hood Players and she was a member of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She basically devoted fifty years of her life to social and charitable work in Mansfield. In 1946, she donated Westfield to Mansfield Corporation on condition that it would be used as a youth centre. It has been used as a youth centre ever since, with an additional new building added in 1968, at the cost of £16,000.
So when the Westfield Folk House re-opens its doors as myplace Mansfield, would Rachel Manners have been pleased with the results?
Sharron is certain that she would have been delighted. The Folk House held a summer fair last year and Sharron tells the story about how a 96-year-old lady came along, whose sister, who now lives in Canada but still keeps up with news in Mansfield, was the housemaid to Rachel Manners. She is writing a book about the story of her life, which hopefully will include an update about the current changes to the Folk House.
"And the changes are going to be huge," says Sharron. "The prospect of having something like this in Mansfield is amazing. There's nothing to touch it."
Sharron says that myplace in Mansfield, "will open doors" for young people.
"All the agencies that are going in there will be working together closely," Sharron continues. "And there are lots of people who will be there who are not visible at the moment: disabled people, and people who are homeless. The Hall will be coming in to the new building."
The Hall Homeless Support project currently has its own home in a tiny house on the side of a main road, where volunteers welcome homeless young people, cook meals on a double hot plate and offer cramped facilities to do washing and have a shower.
Other services such as Skills to Employment, Access All Areas and the Disability Support Team will all be under the same roof, something that will not only help to raise the spirits of the workers, but also help change perceptions.
"Young people are quite frightened of people with disabilities," explains Sharron, "but to see people on an everyday basis and get to know faces - it becomes personalised and less frightening."
"It's such a thing for Mansfield," says youth worker Danielle Metcalf. "I can't wait till it's built." Danielle describes herself as someone who has "gone from being a young person to a staff worker" and is currently working with groups in and around Mansfield, but also doing a BTEC in Outdoor Adventure at West Nottinghamshire College.
And when it comes to running the new building, John Reddish, who is responsible for myplace Mansfield and who has the infectious energy of a Labrador puppy, is taking inspiration from how Rachel Manners used to do things with the earliest youth groups at the Folk House.
"Well again, it will be the links with the voluntary sector," he says. "The detached work will always continue. But we will have to meet the needs of going out to the estates as well as staffing the building."
There is a feeling that love is being poured into this project. The architects at Lewis & Hickey, who could have specified bog-standard Herris fencing and the most basic of gates, have put time and thought into how they can celebrate an existing feature: the Regency graffiti from the original building. On a visit to the site, John Reddish bounds about as he points out some of the features, including the site for the allotment and sensory garden and explains how in the drama and performance area, if there's a band playing downstairs, you will be able to watch it on big screens upstairs.
"And there will be a system with a loop so that young people who are deaf or who have hearing impairments will be able to pick up on the beat of the music," he says.
John pauses before saying: "I'm just so excited. The sky's the limit. And it's not just for Mansfield, it's nationally."
As someone who has been a youth worker for over thirty years, John says that he's often had to say 'no, you can't' to young people.
"And now we're going to be able to say to young people: 'Yes, we can do it. We've got the facilities'."
So will the building change lives?
John stops to think before he answers.
"I think that as a youth worker we do change the lives of young people. The building will only enhance that. It's going to make our job so much easier and perhaps increase the amount of changes we can make in young people's lives."
At the summer fair last year, a group of people who used to be involved in the Folk House in the fifties came along. An exchange programme was started by youth leader Peter Hendron in 1954, where youth groups from the Westfield Folk House visited young people in Heiligenhaus in Germany. This led to Mansfield and Heiligenhaus becoming twin towns.
"And we're starting to make links with Heiligenhaus again," says John. "We'll be able to bring people to Mansfield and show them something we're proud of."
Which makes you think that Rachel Manners would also have been proud of what is happening in Mansfield. In 1946, on the day when she donated the Folk House to Mansfield Corporation, the Mayor not only presented her with a beautiful plate of fruit, he also made her a promise.
On behalf of Mansfield Corporation, the Mayor promised that they would 'do what they could to make the Folk House bigger and have even better facilities'. Today, Miss Manners would surely be pleased to know that the promise has been kept.
 Westfield Folk House in a tag
Location: Westfield Lane, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
Project value: £6m
Doors open: March 2011
Activities:
Bouldering
Basketball
Five-a-side football
Outdoor chess
Music
Dance
Art
Gardening
 Facilities:
Sensory garden
Basketball court
Allotment
Training kitchen and café
Activity space for disable and non-disabled young people
Counselling
Links: Hall Homeless Support; Connexions ; CVS: Access All Areas; Skills to Employment; Disability Support Team; Mansfield District Youth Team; Mansfield Society for the Deaf; County Youth Arts
Contact:
John Reddish
Youth Support Services
Nottinghamshire County Council
Tel: 01623 624179
Email: john.reddish@nottscc.gov.uk
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Resources 
Westfiled Folk House Inspirational (
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