Darren Pratley and Liam Feeney attend relaunch of popular local youth centre in Tonge Moor area of the town
Wanderers’ club captain Darren Pratley and current leading goalscorer Liam Feeney paid a visit to Castle Hill Youth Centre late last week in line with the organisation’s relaunch of their facilities.
Attending the session along with Community Trust Ambassador Tony Kelly, the pair were on hand to interact with the young people and to answer a number of questions alongside take photos and sign autographs.
They were also given a guided tour of the facilities by Adam Warriner of the Bolton Wanderers Community Trust, who showed them just how the money that has been invested in the facility has been put to good use.
Two different sessions take place at the Castle Hill Youth Centre, the first of which involves the nationwide Premier League Kicks initiative – a project which works with young people aged between 12 and 18 and aims to offer regular sporting sessions to channel energies into positive activities.
Last year, the Community Trust engaged with more than 750 young people through their Kicks programme with nearly 150 of these being female while nationally, PL Kicks worked with 52,867 young people throughout the duration of 2014.
The second session which took place on the evening was Bolton Wanderers Youth Club which is aimed at young people in the care system and is currently run in partnership with Bolton Council and funded by Children In Need and the BIG Lottery Fund.
Aiming to offer a range of activities and experiences for young people who otherwise may not get the opportunity, this session also works closely with the most vulnerable young people to enhance their confidence, social skills, comfort in group situations and understanding of peer-to-peer relationships.
With the new unveiling of the upstairs youth club, the number of youngsters taking advantage has increased from six inside the opening weeks of the initiative to 52 who were present on the night of Pratley and Feeney’s visit.
For more information on the initiatives above, please visit www.bwct.org.uk.