I can’t agree more with your editorial on youth services (The Guardian view on youth clubs: these vital institutions do more than prevent crime, 1 July). I live in Bristol, where knife crime among youth is rife. I have a 16-year-old and, although he’s not vulnerable to gang grooming, the only thing available to people in this age bracket is car parks. The only places they can hang out among friends are dark, empty spaces without footfall. Although they can work at the pub, they can’t visit it.
The problem, apart from the deep funding cuts, is segregation among ages in the UK. If as a society we embraced children and adolescents as more than a mere nuisance, the government cuts to youth services would never have become so detrimental.
Margarita Sidirokastriti
Bristol
• I’m a support tutor in daily contact with young people, and I have been raising this issue of social amenities constantly. Some are lucky enough to live in areas where there are after-school clubs, sports clubs etc, but many are not so lucky. I’d love to see local authorities, communities and businesses addressing this issue – simply to provide a space and amenities for children to decompress and enjoy themselves in a non-academic environment.
Volunteers could contribute here. In the old days, setting up a village/town youth club was relatively easy. Now of course, the issues of premises, staffing and Disclosure and Barring Service checks are hurdles in addition to security regarding drugs, alcohol etc. We need to be more community-minded. Youth clubs could provide film nights and music to give these young folks a fun social life, and also allow them to participate in a proper community.
Jane Vessey
Winchester
• In 1965, I was appointed youth tutor in a Leicestershire community college. I opened a new, purpose-built youth wing on the college campus. It was open five nights a week and I taught part-time in the school. It changed lives. Fifty years later, I was contacted by and met a dozen or so of the original members, now around 65 to 70 years old, who were living proof of that statement. We are still in contact. The same bold experiment needs to be repeated.
Dick Jenkinson
Coalville, Leicestershire
• There is a tendency to “overthink” the problem with regard to youth clubs. In this year’s National Youth Agency survey of young people, when they were asked their top reasons for engaging with youth workers or youth work activities, the leading answers suggested that what they want is a space where they can engage in enjoyable activities and build up their confidence.
In other words, and as your editorial rightly points out, what young people are asking for is the return of the old-fashioned “club”, a place where they can drop in, have a bit of fun, and have informal conversations with staff who use a pedagogical approach to addressing any issues that arise, including knife crime if necessary.
What they are not asking for are more “hubs”, where a group of professionals sit in isolation, disconnected from the communities they are in. There is therefore a further argument here as regards relinking youth work to community work; we used to be youth and community workers.
Kevin Donnelly
Former youth worker and youth work manager, Leeds (2000-19)
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
