Sorrel Youth Cafe Logo Proposed Sorrel Youth Cafe
DIOCESE OF LEICESTER
MOUNTSORREL
CHRIST CHURCH & ST. PETER’S
SORREL YOUTH CAFE
This is a project which is being set up independently of any church.
However we feel that it is so important that we wish to support it in principle
This letter is to inform you of the Sorrel Youth Café Project, and to alleviate any concerns people may express.
There is no doubt that Mountsorrel has had its fair share of youth crime, vandalism and graffiti in recent years. However, despite plenty of good-intentioned planning, there is still no facility specifically for the use of young people. The Revive Youth Club has had a beneficial effect on youth behaviour, according to both police and social workers, but only operates one night a week. The lack of a major youth facility may be remedied in a few years time, when the Memorial Hall project finally comes to fruition. However, in the interim, there is a generation of teenagers who need a space of their own right now, and it is this gap that the Sorrel Youth Cafe is intended to fill.
The Sorrel Youth Cafe aims to provide a drop-in facility for young people of secondary school age, from the time that school finishes until middle evening, where they can meet their friends, eat and drink, and generally 'chill out'. It will NOT be a youth club, and from the experience of a similar, and very successful project in Shepshed, it will not be coping with large numbers at any one time. The cafe, which will have a Christian ethos, will be run by a professional youth worker, aided by a group of trained, dedicated volunteers, who will be able to offer advice and guidance to any with problems.
The intended site of the cafe is the former Maltby insurance building at the bottom of the Green. Concerns have been expressed that this will increase problems already experienced at the bus shelter and the immediate area. However, we feel that the opposite is the case. The young people will know that the continuing existence of their cafe will depend on their maintaining good relations with their neighbours, and their behaviour on entering and leaving will be carefully monitored.
We feel there is too much negativity regarding the young people of Mountsorrel. Bad behaviour often results from having nothing to do, as we must all remember from our own teenage years. Our young people are our future and the village's future; they deserve a chance. We want to give them that chance.
For information on the current progress of the project follow our website, www.sycafe.org
