Police officers give helping hand to help open new Prescot Youth Centre

Officers from Merseyside Police have been busy providing a much-needed helping hand today, Friday 8 July, so a new youth club can open in Prescot.

The local policing team in Knowsley were there preparing a room for the new resource to operate at a community centre called Vee’s Place on Kemble Street.

Officers provided the skip and cleared out the room full of donations and old furniture ready for them to decorate in the coming weeks.

Vee’s Place is based in an old church building, and the facility will provide a safe space for children aged 11 to 17 years to meet up and participate in activities.

The youth club opening day is on Sunday 24th July from 11am to 3pm. The event is free entry with plenty of activities, refreshments and a jumble sale on the day.

Parents and children are invited to see what the new club has to offer and take part in activities such as indoor football, play musical instruments, table football, ping pong, air hockey, pool tables, crafts, library and an IT suite.

Constable Emma Blackhurst said:

“We are often faced with the community telling us ‘There’s nothing for the kids to do’. We want to help change that and today we have had all hands on deck at Vee’s place, helping to get the facility ready for open day on 24th July.

“Today, we have cleared the room which has filled the skip. The room is now ready to decorate which is our next task to complete before the opening day.

“We wanted to help because the new youth club provides a much-needed resource for young people to come and have fun within the surroundings of a safe space. Vee’s Place is such valued community centre, so we are pleased to provide a helping hand.”

Vee’s Place was set up by Verity Rhodes and delivers people-led activities and programmes that are engaging, fun and rewarding and develops self-esteem and resilience in our community.

Locals refer to it as a much-needed lifeline in the community for people who need that extra helping hand to get back on their feet.

Verity added:

“I’m so pleased to have the help of the Knowsley local policing team today, something that would have taken me a long time to complete has taken them a morning. We are now on track for our opening day. The new youth club will provide a great service for the community where young people can come and enjoy themselves.”