Portchester neighbours club together to provide safe space for young people to socialise

The team of volunteers will launch a youth drop-in centre, ‘The Box’, at the home of AFC Portchester later this month.

Mum-of-two Sam Willis got the idea three years ago at a family barbecue, after speaking to her niece who complained about the lack of leisure opportunities in the area, and has been working on it making it reality ever since.

The 43-year-old said: ‘I asked what they wished they had in Portchester and they each told me somewhere to go that is safe and warm. Somewhere they could just be left to sit and hang out with their mates.

‘Other than the local already-established youth centre ‘The Odyssey’ held at Portchester Community School, the young people really have no facilities in this area which is a real shame but with small drop-in venues, such as The Box, this should help a lot.’

Seeking a remedy for the situation, Sam sent out a plea on her Facebook page Voice 4 Portchester, which has almost 15,000 members.

The town’s football club answered, agreeing to the use of their facilities for the youth centre.

The Box will encourage a laid back café-like atmosphere and will be open between 6.30pm and 8.30pm once a week, with a view to expand its hours in the future. It will cost £1 to attend with all profits going back into the project.

Sam is keen for the project to be crafted by the teenagers, aged 11 to 16, who come along to the group.

She said: ‘It is a safe environment for the young people and will be led by what they want within reason. This will be done by comment boxes or verbally speaking to us and this could be anything from playing music, snooker table or something else.

‘We also want to encourage the young people who attend ‘The Box’ to give back to the community through simple ways such as beach cleans, packing up shopping or cleaning windows or whatever else would benefit the community.

‘In return, we plan to bring in companies that may be able to offer courses to the children, one example being a refereeing course which then could lead to the children earning their own money when refereeing a football match run by AFC Portchester and we have already been approached by a few local businesses who wish to provide sporting events and other activities.’

The Box will open on February 26.

For more information visit facebook.com/TheBoxPortchester/