A South Tyneside youth club has been awarded a grant from the Port of Tyne Community Action Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.
St Luke’s Youth Club, based in Hebburn, received £750 from the Port of Tyne Community Action Fund towards the salary costs for a part-time youth worker, club resources and a visit to the local pantomime. The grant will support the group’s weekly sessions until May 2022 and was awarded alongside grants from two other Community Foundation funds.
The youth club was set up for young people aged 8-12 to meet, make friends and take part in sport, art and other recreational and cultural activities, and income to run the club is raised primarily through subs and fundraising activities. Part of the grant request to the Community Foundation included a request for funds to take the youth club members and their families to a pantomime over the festive period.
Marie Hornby, youth club leader at St Luke’s, said that the pantomime was a way to give the young people a “magical experience, and lifelong happy memories for children whose lives have been so blighted by the pandemic”.
She continued:
We would like to say thank you for the generous grant to our youth club. We always have limited funds so this award has enabled us to do the things we want to do over the next 12 months including hiring a part-time youth leader, and buying resources, as well as the visit to the pantomime.
Louise Tinkler, Director of Human Resources at Port of Tyne commented:
We are very proud to have been able to support St Luke’s youth club with funds from the Port of Tyne Community Action Fund. It has been a tough few years and the work they do with young people, to keep them engaged and to help them make lasting memories with their families and friends, is essential during times like these.
The Community Action Fund was established at the Community Foundation in 2007 with three key aims: to help communities thrive; improve health and wellbeing; and supporting children and young people to thrive.
Since then, almost £500,000 has been awarded to over 165 community projects along the River Tyne corridor.
