So proud of how we’ve grown...

Helen Taylor: Proud of Mahdlo’s progress

AS Oldham’s Mahdlo youth zone celebrates its second birthday, chief executive Helen Taylor talks to reporter Lucy Kenderdine about its successes and challenges - and plans for the future

IT is hard to believe two years have passed since Mahdlo opened its doors.

Mahdlo has grown from strength to strength, with chief executive Helen Taylor declaring herself proud of its accomplishments in such a short time.

“It’s great when members tell us how being at Mahdlo has helped them with their confidence and self-esteem, and has allowed them to try new things,” she said.

“We’ve had young people coming for a taster session in sports like badminton and now they are champions of Oldham. Other sports now have full teams which take on other youth zones so it is great to be competitive.”

Sports and team-building activities are not Mahdlo’s only successes. The project has won praise for its Get a Job, Changing Futures and Get Ahead programmes, which help young people into work and other opportunities.

“We are really proud when we hear about Mahdlo members who have gone on to great things and credit us with helping them out,” Helen said.

Mahdlo is hoping to focus more on heath and wellbeing in the coming year, with an outreach programme also expected to grow.

“We’re still in our toddler stage as a charity but we have big plans,” she added.

All this has to be paid for; with costs estimated at £1.1million a year, Mahdlo faces a constant funding battle.

Helen said: “Fund-raising is always the biggest challenge. With every new member, the pressure increases. We will be giving a greater focus to fund-raising opportunities and getting members involved.

“We also have a team of more than 100 volunteers, some of whom have been with us from the start and we really wouldn’t have achieved as much as we have in the first two years without them.”