Massive cash boost for charity which started life in a church hall

The Boathouse Youth has received £487,975 from the Government’s Youth Investment Fund which will be used extend its centre on Horsebridge Road.

It follows on from announcements of a £1.7m grant from the same fund for new facilities at the Blackpool Boys and Girls Club on Gorton Street, and £1m to transform the former Fleetwood Hospital site into a youth centre.

Laurance Hancock, chief executive of Boathouse Youth, said the Youth Investment Fund grant was the biggest single funding boost it had received.

He said: “It’s testament to our organisation, which we started from scratch in a church hall, that we have reached the capacity where we can manage a grant of this size.

“It also means we can free up unrestricted reserves to spend on other projects in the town.”

Laurance said the funding meant the charity would be able to offer activities to more young people, with most users of the hub living on Grange Park.

He added: “Our approach is to be sustainable and we plan to be with young people from the age of five until adulthood, on that journey of development.

“This grant means we will be able almost double the size of our building on Grange Park so we can run multiple groups at once, and have more people in each session.”

Lewis Hobill, 17, a young leader who recently completed his Level 2 Award in Youth Work Principles, said: “I run sessions with our junior age group and we just don’t have enough space so with the bigger hall it will be so much better,”

Lewis, who started attending The Boathouse Youth when he was 11-years-old, has recently celebrated achieving his Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and securing paid employment with the charity over the summer holidays.

It is hoped work to build the extension will begin in September, with activities continuing during the construction period by using space at a nearby school if necessary.

Around 350 children a year currently access the centre on Horsebridge Road, which Boathouse Youth moved into in January 2020 after initially using space at Boundary Primary School.