The Centre in Oswestry’s official opening a success

Oswestry’s new state-of the-art youth centre ‘The Centre’ was officially opened on Saturday 8 December 2012. 

A plaque was unveiled by Shropshire Councillors Keith Barrow and Vince Hunt, which preceded an exciting day of events to mark the occasion.  These included skateboarding and BMX, music tuition and performances, and a range of art and craft activities including graffiti art.

St John’s Ambulance has an ambulance based at The Centre, and showcased their work.

Bands and DJs played in the hall Saturday evening, arranged by Fusion Arts Oswestry.

Vince Hunt, local Shropshire councillor for Oswestry West, said:

“It was a privilege to officially open this fantastic new centre.  It has given young people in Oswestry and from the surrounding area a place of their own, and an extremely healthy turnout of 200 young people on the official opening Saturday augurs well for the ongoing future use of the facilities and the access to advice and guidance.” 

Keith Barrow, Shropshire Councillor for Oswestry South, said:

“This was a fitting official opening for The Centre and I was delighted to be there in the first months of its success story.” 

Karen Burgoyne, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member, said:

“Everyone involved and who attended on Saturday were extremely proud to mark their hard work coming alive.  It was a superb event, and fantastic to see so many young people and the local community getting involved.” 

The facility was opened to the public in October 2012 and was made possible by Government grants.  It has replaced the old Centre North West facility in Oak Street. 

The building is energy-efficient and has lots of eco credentials including biomass heating, rain water harvesting, solar heating and heat exchangers.  It is extremely well insulated, which will reduce heating costs and lower the council’s carbon footprint. 

The Centre has a recording studio and music room which is run by a social enterprise formed by local musicians, Fusion Arts Oswestry.  There is a cafe area, commercial standard kitchen, art room, interview and meeting rooms, training room, large hall for skateboarding, blades and BMX as well as more traditional activities like dance, drama and music. 

There is also an upstairs terraced area that will be used for barbecues and growing produce.  Outside there are two ‘pebbles’ for sitting on, which will be lit at night by energy-efficient colour changing LEDs. 

Young people, supported by youth workers, have been fully involved in the project throughout, including helping with the design, plans for how it will be used, the colours, furniture and equipment.  A group has been meeting weekly at The Marches School to discuss issues and make decisions on matters concerning the building.

It is the council’s vision to make this a vibrant and busy place, and to do that it’s important to have lots of involvement from the local community.  Councillor Vince Hunt is spearheading a drive to form a management committee, and to include local charities, businesses and young people in the building.  So far, partners include St John’s Ambulance, Fusion Arts Oswestry and Shropshire Youth Association.

More links are being made with the community, including a potential social enterprise, for BMX and skating, as well as a local youth charity that is hoping to relocate into the building.

The land on which the new building sits has been leased to Shropshire Council by Oswestry Town Council.

Further information

A £2.4m My Place grant for this project was awarded by the Big Fund in April 2011, and a further grant of £400,000 has been received from the Department for Education for co-locating a range of important services for young people.