Excitement as youth club set to reopen

A youth club will open its doors later after being saved from permanent closure.

Charity In Charley's Memory will reopen The Zone Youth Club in Burnham-on-Sea on Tuesday evening, after it shut earlier this year due to a lack of volunteers.

It will now offer a space for children aged between 11 and 15 every Tuesday from 15:30-17:30 BST.

Dawn Carey, CEO of In Charley's Memory, said she was "so excited" to reopen the Somerset club and added it "just made so much sense".

In Charley's Memory was started after Charley Marks, from Burnham-on-Sea, took his own life at 18 years old in 2014.

The charity provides children and young people with mental health and wellbeing support.

The Zone, which was originally set up by the Somerset Rural Project, was attended by more than 30 children aged 10 to 11 and taken over by parent volunteers in 2016.

Ms Carey said: "Not every young person needs counselling. Some young people just need support.

"They need to offload to someone older than them, just to be able to let off steam.

"We have 53 kids registered to come to the youth club - if that's not the children in Burnham and Highbridge telling us how much they need this youth club then I don't know what is."

The Zone will be the charity's first youth club and Ms Carey said she would not be making many changes.

"The only difference is the youth club is actually going to be run by some of our counsellors, so if any of our kids do want to have a chat with somebody then there is someone on site that will be able to support them."

"But I'm going to leave it alone. If any of the kids coming in later are listening: You still have your tuck shop, I have not got rid of your tuck shop."

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