A Space For Young People To Thrive!

After trying for over a year, we have finally found a company willing to insure the Neath Boy's And Girls Club building, but it's going to cost £5000!!

We have raised £2000 already, but need to find the rest in the next 3 weeks before the quote becomes invalid and we lose what may be our last chance to make progress.

The building has so much potential and is a massive asset to the community, but it needs a lot of work done to bring it up to current standards before we can open it as a brand new youth focused facility!  

We are going to need grants to get us there, but haven't been able to meet funding criteria because of the lack of insurance. 

Until now, we've been in a catch 22 situation!  

This is a small but vital hurdle to cross and it will open the way for something really special for local children and young people.

Our team are all volunteers, so everything you pledge will go directly to the project where it is needed the most!

THE STORY SO FAR...

In 2019, the former club committee were about to disband but, before doing so, put one final shout out for help asking for another group of people in the community to take on the building before the decision was made to sell it.  

FAN Community Alliance stepped up and, working with the last remaining members of the Boys and Girls Club committee, NPT Council for Voluntary Service and the Boys and Girls Club of Wales, agreed to form a new team to take the club forward in the hope they could retain the facility for the community.   The new committee was formed at the start of 2020 - just before the pandemic hit!

They fundraised, paid off outstanding debts, got the power reconnected and cleared out all the damaged, damp and dated items that were piled high in rooms throughout the building - just so they could see what needed to be done.

In order to get insurance quotes, a building survey was needed, which was also not cheap!  The survey showed that while the building itself was structurally sound, a great deal of work was needed to bring it up to current standards and we would not be able to open until this was done.  The surveyors created a 3-year plan, with the 1st year requiring around £80,000 of work.  

We were not deterred!! 

It meant we would most likely be looking at grants rather than fundraising events, but to get the grants... we needed insurance.  Company after company turned us down due to the length of time the building had been closed, the scale of work required and the length of time it could take to acquire funding.

Then, a firm specialising in construction insurance was recommended - they don't normally provide cover for more than 6 months but they agreed to quote for a year, which should be long enough for us to get the ball rolling!  

But, quotes don't last forever and that's why we are here now with an ALL or NOTHING crowdfunder to raise £5000 in 3 weeks.  

We believe in this project and creating better opportunities for local kids.  

If you do too, put your faith in us and donate today!

WHAT'S THE VISION?

They say it takes a village to raise a child...

Right from the outset, the team stated they would not re-open the club the way it used to be.  It would be more about building community and engaging young people with events and activities.  It will be a youth-led centre; giving them a space where they have ownership and control as well as a sense of responsibility. It will be somewhere they are enabled and encouraged to reach for their dreams, no matter how unrealistic they may seem at first!

When F.A.N Community Alliance started as a small residents group back in 2008, it in only took 2 years for the young people of the street to form their own fully constituted group, "Mini FANs" - following in FAN's footsteps but with a focus on youth.  Supported by the community, their dreams quickly escalated from wanting to go on an ice-skating trip, to running their own youth circus with stage shows and public fire spinning! As impossible as it seemed, they got that circus, trained, performed and provided workshops across Neath Port Talbot.  It lead to the catch phrase that "Nothing's impossible... unless it's illegal!" and it allowed them to believe it.

In 2016, FAN signed the lease to the old Neath Pensioners Hall - another abandoned building.  Within just a few months it was up and running as the thriving Friends And Neighbours Centre.  (you can find out more about FAN and the things they do here: https://www.facebook.com/BringingPeopleTogether.CreatingCommunity).

The current Boys and Girls Club committee are all also members of FAN.  Between them, they have years of experience bringing the community together and continuously evolving as the community changes.  More importantly they know the sense of family that it creates and the impact it can have.  

The vision is to create a space that replicates the FAN Centre but dedicated to the needs and dreams of the children and young people of Neath.  Following in FAN's footsteps just like the last generation of mini FANs had done years before, it will become somewhere they can be proud of; and a space that they can call home.