BROADSTONE YOUTH CENTRE

Whilst on an overnight stay on Brownsea Island with the Dorset Wildlife Trust our guide informed us that in 150 years time the Island may be underwater. If you say it quick enough, it's just another environmental fact pedalled by the Global Warming lobby. Well we've been warned haven't we? But just like any major event we won't really take any notice until it's just about to happen. You only have to recall the traffic jams in Hawaii last month to prove this. So who will it matter to? And how do we motivate those who could be responsible for making the necessary changes - if it's not already too late.

At Broadstone Youth Centre we are trying to inspire young people to take an interest in the world around them. Anyone passing the right angle that is formed by Moor Road and Tudor Road will have noticed our first fumbling steps on our new Environmental Studies area. The project touches on many aspects of the formal and informal education curriculum that the Centre provides including:

• Basic gardening skills
• Working as a team
• Art and Design
• Design and Technology
• Mathematics, Science and Citizenship
• Physical Activity

We can link the project to the Healthy Schools and Youth Centre schemes run by the local health authority and it provides an excellent opportunity for young people to do their Service or Skills module of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

This is the external face of the Centre and we are very grateful for the support and encouragement given by local residents who have donated tools and equipment, Broadstone in Bloom, Broadstone Horticultural Society and Upton Country Park (who provided some rather exotic plants over the summer).

This year the Centre celebrates 30 years of working with young people in the area and the building has been extended, pushed and pulled about many times to meet the needs of three decades of teenagers (what were you doing in 1975?). Shaping an environment where young people can learn and experiment with views, opinions and appropriate behaviour is vital and responding to young people's needs and fads is all part of our work.

At the moment we have a beautiful Fish Tank, home to 5 Platies, 1 Gourami, 1 Coryordas, 1 Tin Foil Barb and several Shrimps. This has been a personal challenge to me as my only previous experience of fish is spilling my own Goldfish 'Blob' into the toilet while getting rid of its water before cleaning the bowl out. Only trouble was that Mum had put bleach in the toilet that morning! The young people have talked me through the process and I have found a new interest. People's response to the tank and its inhabitants is really encouraging.

However the real work takes place through relating all these activities to the challenges of life. We link what we stock in the Coffee Bar to healthy eating and issues of Fair Trade. We attempt to raise issues of democracy and local involvement by encouraging young people to be involved in the decision making processes. The care of the Fish and tending the plants over the two week Summer closure was a real issue and we worked it out between us.

The Management Committee made up of local people is always open to new members that can help with these developments and this coming year is going to see Broadstone Youth Centre further development as a building. This will be shared with those attending our A.G.M. in April and our Reunion event in May.

Through developing links with the Dorset Wildlife Trust we may get involved in conserving parts of the natural beauty that many of us appreciate and enjoy. Plants and flowers will grow, butterflies benefit and birds may nest in our designer bird boxes, but every one of us needs to not only act locally and think globally but ensure that action globally will safeguard this 'wonderful world' for more than 150 years.

Colin Phillimore, Youth Worker

Archive Winter 2004 | next

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