Stephensons, the national law firm, has pledged its support to a North West youth club with a donation of £5,000 as part of the firm’s commitment to working with communities across the UK.
Neal Boland, senior partner from Stephensons, met with John Harker – general manager from Wigan Youth Zone - to present a cheque for £5,000 and learn more about the work of the youth club and its volunteers.
Wigan Youth Zone, which is the largest youth club in Europe, is a state of the art, purpose built centre which caters for children and young people across the Wigan Borough. The club covers a wide range of activities, including football, tag rugby, rock climbing, skateboarding, arts and crafts and games. Wigan Youth Zone also has its own climbing wall, gym, dance studio and music studio on-site, as well as a sports hall, boxing gym and 3G pitches.
The club also organisations ‘residentials’, which include trips to the Lake District and other outdoor pursuits which aim to encourage and develop leadership skills, improve confidence, wellbeing and prepare young people for adult life.
Neal said: “It’s been a real pleasure to meet some of the staff and volunteers at Wigan Youth Zone, learning a little more about the excellent work they do to support young people in the town and surrounding areas.
“We hope that this donation will help the club to provide even greater opportunities for its members across the borough.”
Wigan Youth Zone’s general manager, John Harker MBE, said: “Stephensons, have been patrons and great supporters of the Youth Zone since its inception and I was thrilled to hear that they also wanted to support our residential packages this year. As young people mature into adults, they often forget things they do at the Youth Zone but one thing they never forget is the time spent on a residential. These trips to the Lake District and such like have a huge impact on them socially, mentally and physically.
“We have developed our residential packages since opening but want to include many more young people from across the borough. This generous donation, for which we are extremely grateful will fund three more residentials this year, enabling another 40 members to benefit from these life changing activities.
“This £5,000 is just the start of what I hope will develop into a larger fund that will enable hundreds more young people to get the benefit”.
For more information on Wigan Youth Zone, visit www.wiganyouthzone.org