For the first time since Lord Longford founded New Horizon 42 years ago, we are to have a building ‘fit for purpose’.
The builders are on site, we have decamped to temporary premises along the road and the work will be completed by Christmas this year.
We are the beneficiaries of a Lottery Award designated by the Department of Children Schools and Families, under the heading of ‘My Place Funding’. The idea is that our young people themselves, together with local community and businesses will deliver ‘world class youth facilities’.
When the £1.5 million project is complete we shall have an entirely new day centre on our old Chalton street site. We shall have kitchen, washing facilities, education, andrecreation facilities together with computer room, consulting rooms and the rest. The centrepiece with be a newly constructed ‘Barn’, a large performance room in which we can stage music, drama, education, exercise and meeting space.
This will have the added benefit of being available to the local community for use when the Centre is closed. It will have its own entrance and will provide urgently needed meeting and performance space for those who live nearby. All this would have been impossible without the support of the community around us and the creative and financial input of the Kings Cross architect, John McAslan and his Family Trust. He funded a RIBA competition to find our eventual architect Adam Khan, and has been a constant source of advice and support at every stage.
It is largely thanks to him that we were ready and right for the Lottery Award. It would also have been impossible without the support of the London Borough of Camden and our local councillors. Our new neighbours, The Guardian, have provided support at every level through fund raising concerts, work placements, coaching and support for the new build.
I want to express enormous gratitude to Elizabeth Shields who secured critical seed funding that enabled us to produce everything required by the lottery to secure the lottery funding. The Rayne Foundation and Garfield Weston, and the R & S Cohen Foundation have been pivotally generous too.
Finally none of this would have happened without the drive and inspiration of our Director, Shelagh O’Connor,and her dedicated team and of course the enthusiasm of our young people. And don’t think that this wonderful capital injection will solve all our funding issues in these tightening times. It won’t’.
We shall be out fund raising again this year, but with the wind in our sales, generated by the huge uplift in the services we shall now be able to offer homeless young people in Central London.
Jon Snow
Chair, New Horizon Youth Centre
Download the full Annual Report 08/09 by clicking here.
Tags: charity, Creating Positive Futures, fundraising, New Horizon Youth Centre, Our new centre, Success, young people
