Just like Clockwork!
Posted at August 29th, 2008 by Sean
Well, howdy there!
Hasn’t been an update for quite a while, this is mainly due to people being on holiday and whatnot, but we do have some good news now! Today, we had an extra special late August meeting to discuss and begin to pull together the proposal for the myplace bid. What made it extra special was meeting our newest partner, Forest YMCA!
It turns out the the YMCA are also making a bid for the money, so we decided to join forces. Along with the 50 flats for homeless Young People that the YMCA are already building, they wanted a super youth facility, armed with similar ideas, we met the head of Forest YMCA at our meeting to discuss how to combine our efforts. The Clockworks Development is a disused clock factory just off Forest Road, and in close proximity to the YMCA hostel, and the Church Hill area. It consists of 10 warehouse units (Four large, Six small) and a 5 story wing where the 50 flats are being built. Our proposal, as a joint venture, is to secure funding to refurbish the warehouse units for use as a state of the art youth facility, complete with cafe, gig venue, IT and Media suites, and much more, and to aid the refurbishment of some of the already existing YMCA facilities that can be further incorporated into the facility (which we’re hoping to call ‘The Hub’).
The Hub will then be accessible to the 50 young people in the YMCA flats, as well as the 185 young people in the YMCA hospital, further targets include young people from the Waltham Forest College, just across the road, and the Church Hill Area which is just behind it. The Hub will serve, essentially, the Hoe Street Ward, which is one of the five most deprived wards in the country.
The Hub will be open to all young people, and the community in general, with the aim of providing a safe, relaxing, fun place to be, and to assist young people in whatever they choose to do. Medical advice will be available, as well as a health advisor or nurse. Waltham Forest Young Advisors will be part of the management panel and will, in effect, manage the enterprise on both a corporate, and day-to-day basis.
Essentially, it’s gonna be a really awesome place, and we’re very excited! After our little guided tour around the YMCA owned assets, and a brief viewing of the Clockworks development (we were amazed to see that work was already underway on the flats!) we said goodbye to Tracy (Head of the Forest YMCA) and headed back across the road to the town hall to continue our plans. With myself and Georgia on work experience for the next month with Lyndsey, we’re hoping to get the final proposal in on time, and to make it great.
All is going to plan, just like clockwork 
Watch this space,
much love, Sean.
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