Blackpool Mark Masons keep youngsters afloat |
December 2015 |
| Mark Masons have helped Blackpool’s The Boathouse Youth organisation with a generous £1,000 grant which will help keep youngsters safe when they are off on one of their favourite outward bound activities, be it canal boating, canoeing or ghyll scrambling*. |
 |
| Pictured, from left, are: Mike Casey, Paul Reid, Laurence Hancock, Bill Swindlehurst |
and Benjamin Wilson, front row are brothers Steven Collins, Christopher Collins with John Forster |
| The Boathouse Youth (BHY) was initially founded by four churches in the Bloomfield area of Blackpool, the project being the only full time provision for youth in the town, in response to a national survey which classed this area of Blackpool as one of the worst deprived in the country. |
| Over five years on, almost 500 children within the Bloomfield and Waterloo wards attend the centre which is situated in South Shore’s Lytham Road and which caters, in four age groups, for youngsters aged from 5 to 17 years. |
| BHY‘s proud boast is that it is the biggest and most successful non-uniformed youth organisation in Blackpool. |
 |
The Boathouse Youth picture wall of activities. |
| General manager Laurence Hancock explains that a united effort which includes a Lottery Fund grant and help from charities such as BBC’s Children in Need, rugby’s Wooden Spoon, the Vera Wolstencroft Foundation, and United Utilities as well as Blackpool Mark Freemasons, all helps to provide dedicated full and part time staff and assists with the day to day running costs of the organisation. |
| The BHY building in Lytham Road, which was once a library, was bought by a benefactor, one of the committee members, and leased to the youth group at a peppercorn rent. |
| Evidence of the effectiveness and success of the youth scheme comes from police crime statistics which show that juvenile antisocial behaviour has dropped by 50% since the start of the project. |
| The work which The Boathouse Youth does is divided into three sections: |
 |
The Boathouse Youth centre in Lytham Road. |
| Centre based activities and classes which take place at its Lytham Road base. Detached and outreach activities where youth workers contact children on the streets and through schools, Activities where residential breaks and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme expeditions are undertaken. (BHY acts on behalf of South Shore Academy, the largest secondary school close to the centre in providing access to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.) |
| It was help with the outdoor work and canal boating activities which prompted Laurence to get in touch with deputy team leader Mike Casey of Mark Masons’ Corinthian Charity Group for sponsorship to purchase 20 buoyancy aids so that in time hundreds of children aged 8 to 17 years could make use of them. |
| Laurence wrote to Mike that The Boathouse Youth group were keen to make themselves self sufficient and that if they had their own equipment they could make savings on hire costs, which resource they could then use for other projects. |
| Mike, on hearing about the invaluable and ongoing work done for local youngsters by BHY had no hesitation in recommending to his committee not only to approve Laurence’s request but also to double the number of life jackets asked for to 40. |
 |
The Boathouse Youth mission statement. |
| Arrangements were made to purchase 40 Helly Hansen Rider Vest Buoyancy Aids, all emblazoned with the Mark Mason logo and accompanied by the PGMs Special Representative John Forster and local Mark Mason Bill Swindlehurst; Mike took particular delight in presenting the life jackets to Laurence and members of his team at their Lytham Road centre. |
| Thanking Mike, Laurence asked Mike to express The Boathouse Youth’s sincere gratitude to the West Lancashire Mark Masons’ Charity for their very welcome and much appreciated gift. |
Footnote: |
Article and Photos Courtesy of Bob Boal. |
