Audlem Action for Youth

History

In 2001 a group of Audlem teenagers knocked on the door of the Chairman of the Parish Council and asked him help them get a BMX bike/skate board facility in the village. The Parish Council promised to help and started the ball rolling by contacting the Borough Council. Meanwhile, some of the parents of the teenagers involved and other interested people in the village thought it would be a good idea to form a group to help raise money and support for the idea. There was a well-attended meeting and it was decided to call the group Audlem Action for Youth or, inevitably, AAFY.

A bank account was opened, money was raised by car washes and live music nights and donations came in from local groups and individuals. All this helped to eventually attract funding of about £12,000 from the Borough Council and all that was needed to make this modest dream a reality was somewhere to put the facility.

Sadly even the Borough Council were unable to find a very small piece of their own land where there were no objections from local residents and over three years after it had all started the Council re-allocated the money elsewhere, the teenagers became adults and were replaced by other teenagers, AAFY went into hibernation and a certain amount of trust was lost.

The Present

And then the Parish Plan came along. This involved a focus group specifically to identify the needs and aspirations of young people in the village and the resulting findings now make up a significant part of the finished plan. It was decided it would be a good idea to continue with this focus group in some form in order to make sure that the young had a voice in future plans. As some of the focus group were AAFY veterans it was decided to wake up the sleeping group, dust off the bank account and take on the this new role.

A new committee was formed with representatives from the Youth Club and Audlem Saints Football club and other interested people and new aims were identified. AAFY was to become an “umbrella body made up of local youth groups, organisations and individuals to actively support and promote projects and events for the children and young people of Audlem”.

Straight away it was decided that the now legendary Fun-ky weekend would benefit from being under the umbrella. A long-term aim is to have a dedicated meeting place/space for young people. Another aim is to further upgrade and improve the playground area and include equipment for all ages.

AAFY also have a representative on the Parish Plan steering committee and this has ensured that plans for a sports facility next to the public hall will take into account the needs of our young people. The group is open to anyone with an interest in our young people’s future. Meetings take place on an "as and when necessary" basis and are kept to a minimum.

This page was last checked in March 2009. If it‘s no longer accurate, please contact us so we can keep our pages up to date.