A YOUTH centre is celebrating reaching a milestone anniversary.

The Ourside Youth Centre is marking 10 years since being established, and is inviting anyone that has been involved or attended the centre during its 10 years to contact them.

The Broadway Road-based centre originally grew from an idea where 14 years ago a group of young people were fed up of having nothing to do and nowhere to go, and decided to do something about it.

Bev Wride, centre manager, said “I met the most excited, strong willed and headstrong group of young people who felt so strongly about doing something for their town.”

Over four years of campaigning the group raised enough money to completely refurbish a dilapidated building and open up as a youth centre for the young people of Evesham and the surrounding areas.

Carly Elwell, founder said: “By the time it was open we were too old to attend but we knew how important having something like this in the town.”

For the first four years it was operated with the support of Worcestershire County Council, however in 2011 it was announced that £1.4 million was to be cut from the youth service, putting its future in doubt.

In 2012 a group of directors and trustees formed from a mixture of founding members and local residents to launch Ourside Youth Association as a charitable organisation. And they have go on to ensure the centre continues to provide a welcoming space for anyone aged 11 to 19-years-old with the centre having five weekly sessions providing pool games and social space to support talks on mental health, sexual health advice, careers advice, drugs and substance awareness.

Libby Naylor one of the founding members, said: “I am so proud that it’s a success and its unbelievable that a group of teens with a dream made it."

To contact the team call 01386 424171, email info@ourside.org.uk or visit ourside.org.uk.