Fight to save Plymouth youth club after closure leaves community 'devastated'

A popular youth club in Plymouth has announced its immediate closure, leaving members "devastated".

SpaceShot Youth Project has been a safe place for young people in the area since 1996.

Jay Connaughton, 16, and his siblings have attended the club in Ernesettle for years. He says he is "gutted" that future generations will not have the chance to be part of the club.

Jay is now fighting against the closure and has started a petition to save it.

"We would like to shed light on the importance of small charities having enough funding to provide support to young people", he said.

The youth club was run by a charity called Barefoot, whose lead youth worker said: "We had lots of different funders, the main one being the National Lottery.

"When those three years of funding came to an end, we did try to put in for other funding but it didn’t work out and so, the youth club had to go.

"At the youth club young people could learn cooking skills, we’d put on a meal for them.

"It was a place where they could feel safe. When it was shutting down a lot of young people and their families were devastated."

The SpaceShot Youth Project had other centres too, including one in Whitleigh and another in St Budeaux. They have now also closed.

Last year, the project worked with more than 500 young people.

The youth club leader, along with his business partner, will now start street-based work as they no longer have a premises. However, they hope to build a new organisation over time, called Connecting Youth CIC.

Ernesettle resident, Sally Walker, said: “I’ve lived here for 32 years. There was nothing here for the kinds before the Barefoot youth club turned up.

"I’ve had three children, two boys and a girl. The boys specifically absolutely loved the youth club. They were here all the time.

"My boys went on trips, they went to London. They got involved with all the activities that they could do during the school holidays. It was lovely, they did coasteering and kayaking, and they were always out on Dartmoor."