TAVISTOCK?S new Youth Café is going from strength to strength, with new opening sessions ? and plans for more facilities in the popular venue. The café, next to the Youthwize offices in Pixon Lane, opened last October following a successful fundraising campaign by members of Tavistock Youth Council. Emma Gardner, youth café manager, said: ?It?s going really, really well. We?ve done a big publicity drive at the school and we regularly get between 12 and 20 people down here for each session. ?And we?re now doing an extra session just for girls, to encourage a few more of them to come along.? Emma said the café was proving to have a ?cosy, chilled out? atmosphere and was providing a safe, friendly and non-discriminatory venue for young people aged eleven to 19 in the Tavistock area. There are also plans to extend the facilities at the café. ?We are putting in a bid for a new IT system, which is an area that?s not being used at the moment,? said Emma. ?We are having live mike sessions, and we are now starting live band nights once a month. We?re also going to improve the signage, through an arts project, to make the café more young people-friendly looking from the outside. ?We?re in the process of buying a karaoke machine and Devon Youth Service has donated a big music system.? Soft drinks and hot and cold snacks can be purchased at the café, which has a soft seating area and a well-used pool table. The sessions, which are always staffed by the youth café manager, are Wednesdays between 5pm and 8pm, Fridays between 3.15pm and 5.30pm and 6.30pm until 9pm and Saturdays between noon and 3pm, when all young people are welcomed. The new girls-only session for young people between the ages of 13 and 19 runs on Tuesdays between 6pm and 8pm. Anyone who would like more information about Tavistock Youth Café can call Emma Gardner on 01822 612851 or drop in at one of the sessions.
