Tavistock Rotary Club has outlined three main charities it will support in the forthcoming year, one of which is the town’s youth cafe.

The club’s president (Martin Webb) does this on an annual basis and was happy to also present the youth cafe with an additional donation of £1,000 to help fund one of its upcoming projects last week, when manager Vicki Lloyd-Walsh joined the club at the Bedford Hotel to give a talk on the work of the youth cafe.

Christine Ellis of the Rotary club said: ‘It was not surprising to learn that, since the pandemic, the work of the youth cafe has increased significantly to the point that extra staff have had to be employed to meet the demands of the service. The mental health of young people has been affected with many having problems re-engaging with the demands of school and society.

‘Vicki spoke warmly of the good relationship the youth cafe has with Tavistock College and the GP surgeries in Tavistock and gave a very interesting talk about how the cafe’s remit has grown since the pandemic.

‘She presented a series of slides showing the various activities that the young people get involved in at the youth cafe which range from music projects to Tavistock Pride. One particular activity is Charlie’s Voyage. During the summer, eight children join a ship and learn how to live and work aboard, cook meals and cooperate with each other.’

Vicki confirmed that the donation received will go towards funding the next voyage, which will take place at the end of August 2023. She said: ‘Whenever the community recognise the work we do with young people and want to hear more about it, it’s always a great feeling. It costs a lot to keep the cafe and all of its projects going so it means so much to us, no matter how big or small a donation we receive, it’s going to a good place.

‘I spoke about many different points of interest. Our momentum project sees us work closely with eight young people facing educational challenges by engaging in a range of different activities such as conservation with Dartmoor Rangers, cooking and learning about the environment. We also have wellbeing sessions at Freddie’s Fibre Friends near Callington spinning wool from sheep and alpacas and a music project with the monthly Shake the Shelves event at the library. Our Friday night drop in sessions see up to 50 secondary school aged pupils join us for all sorts of cooking, games and activities.’

In addition to supporting the Youth Cafe, the Rotary Club will also be supporting the West Devon Citizen Advice Bureau and the Devon and Cornwall 4x4 response.