A young woman from Hengoed has helped launched a campaign to show how youth clubs can have a positive effect on children’s lives.
Shauna Webb has experienced the positive impact of youth clubs firsthand and has been attending Cefn Hengoed youth club since she was 12.
Shauna and her team of fellow youth club members wanted to show that a world without youth clubs is a pretty sad one and are encouraging key decision makers to keep them open.
They have created a film with Fixers – a charity which gives young people a voice – to explain how a lack of education and safety provided by a youth club could have serious consequences.
The team launched their film at the annual youth work conference in Cardiff last month and the audience included the minister for Welsh language and lifelong learning Eluned Morgan AM.
“We wanted the people who deal with youth clubs and help keep them open to see the film and see how important they are,” said Shauna.
“We’re asking the Welsh Government to please continue to support youth clubs and look after our future.
“The film is really powerful and gets the message across. We just want to keep youth clubs open,” she said.
Shauna is grateful for her positive experiences at Cefn Hengoed youth club.
“When I was younger I was pretty quiet and I’d just hide myself away in the corner, but going to the youth club helped me gain confidence. At first I wouldn’t talk to anyone, but the youth workers helped me through it and gave me activities to do which built my confidence.
“We do arts and crafts, there’s a pool table and we can learn things like cooking skills.
“Youth clubs engage, educate and encourage young people to communicate. They build confidence and they teach you all about the world, even things like sex education.
“Children can go and chat with other people their age and the youth workers about their problems.
“It’s a fun, educational, safe social space where young people can gather and be themselves. They will lose out if they close and I don’t want children in the area to go through that.
“Without continued funding and support the future could look pretty sad.”