£5m vision for the future...

Young people with a model of the new youth community centre

Youth zone launch event

OLDHAM’S new £5 million youth zone takes an exciting step forward tomorrow when project leaders join forces with local businesses, Oldham Council and the youngsters who have been a key part of the team, to hold a major launch event at Gallery Oldham.

More than 100 people will attend the lunchtime event to hear about the new youth centre’s progress.

It is to be built on the former Marjorie Lees Health Centre site. The gathering will be shown a DVD of how the centre will operate and the facilities it will offer for local youngsters.

Terry Flanagan is a former international rugby league player and now a successful local businessman who is in charge of fund-raising for the Youth Zone project.

He will welcome guests and introduce the DVD. There will contributions from entrepreneur Bill Holroyd, who founded the national Onside organisation which oversees Youth Zone developments across the country. Norman Stoller OBE, the former Oldham businessman and freeman of the borough, who has committed £250,000 to the Oldham club through the Stoller Charitable Trust, will also give a talk.

William Lees-Jones, chairman of the Oldham Youth Zone project and a member of the main Onside board, will report on where the Oldham club is up to while council leader Howard Sykes will explain why the council is 100 per cent behind the development.

Key to the development has been the involvement of dozens of local youngsters whose input has been vital.

The group went to London to meet up with high-profile architect Mike Davies to have their say on the exciting project.

The world-renowned Sorrell Foundation organised the visit which included a trip to its Young Design Centre at Somerset House, where the young people took part in workshops with professionals from Sorrell’s creative industries team.

Some of the youngsters, along with Lee Thompson, head of the young people group, will show plans and drawings of the Oldham club.

Funded with a Lottery grant, Mahdlo (the name chosen by the young people) will include a sports hall, outdoor kick pitch, boxing gym, fitness room, climbing wall, dance studio, small cinema area, cafe, covered patio and meeting rooms.

A striking feature will be the “chameleon cladding” which will change colour from rusty orange to emerald green depending on where it is viewed.

A solar wall will also produce heating and reduce running costs.

Jeremy Glover MBE, a former youth worker at the acclaimed Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club, which opened in 2002 and now hosts 3,500 young people every week, has played a key role. He will describe Onside’s work across the country.

Mr Glover said: “The proposed Oldham Youth Zone is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am sure it will be used by people from all communities and all abilities.”

Mr Flanagan will be asking those attending tomorrow’s event (from noon to 2pm) to support Mahdlo and to help it have a significant impact on the lives of local youngsters.