DEDICATED work by Bere Alston’s youth to fundraise for a brand new shelter has paid off with a substantial grant of almost £10,000 by the National Lottery’s Awards For All scheme.

As reported in last week’s Times, members of the Youth 2 Youth group spearheaded a fundraising campaign in order to erect a youth shelter as there were ‘insufficient amenities’ to suit teenagers.

The group, which hosts weekly youth club sessions at ‘The Hut’ in Bere Alston, set out to raise money to improve the club’s outside space, known as ‘the courts’ — a hardstanding behind the parish hall, which has a basketball hoop and a small patch of grass.

With youth sessions running two evenings a week and new sessions starting on a Saturday, the young people were busy fundraising to purchase a youth shelter for the area as somewhere to go when the club was closed, to provide cover in all weathers at all times of the year.

And last week, the group heard that it was successful in receiving £9,850 from the National Lottery’s Awards For All grant.

Sixth Form students Phoenix Rinkowski and Lauren Morris spearheaded the campaign and are members of the Youth 2 Youth steering group.

First the group approached Bere Ferrers Parish Council for permission to improve the area and build a shelter on the hardstanding which it accepted, providing the youth group raised the funds to purchase the shelter.

The pair then completed an application to the Lottery, which last week they heard was successful.

After learning the group was to receive £9,850, Phoenix and Lauren said: ‘We are thrilled that we managed to receive the funding for the shelter to be built. It means that the shelter we have been working hard to get can finally become a reality.’

Youth worker Vicki Lloyd-Walsh said: ‘The youth put together a small steering group and they put in a lot of effort to make it happen.

‘It’s the consistency that made it happen and their hard work and efforts have paid off as we wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for them.’

The youth club hosts a session for people in school Years 7, 8 and 9 on Wednesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm where they can take part in cooking games and other activities of their choice and a session for young adults in Year 10 and over, which provides advice on careers, money and opportunities available as well as other things.