Midsomer Norton Life Winter 2021

Midsomer Norton Town Council and the MSN Community Trust have funded a new and exciting range of Youth Opportunities in the town. Youth Worker Harry Parsons has designed four sessions across the week to meet the needs of different young people from Midsomer Norton.

Monday evenings between 6:30 – 8:30pm is a detached session (on foot), covering hotspot areas identified from previous youth work, by the police and the Town Council. Key areas for this work will be the High Street, West Clewes Recreation ground and the area near Sliver Street Nature Reserve. Harry will be offering support to young people that he meets and encouraging

Norton Youth Space

Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30 @ the old container / MSN skate park

For more information you can email harry.parsons@ycsw.org.uk or call 07971 011225

them to be more involved with and respectful to their community. This includes offering guidance around employability and training, as well as informal education and discussions on issues such as sexual health and substance misuse. Young people have been enjoying Harry and his team seeing them out and about and stopping to talk. One young person said, “It’s really nice to know that there’s support in town if I need it.”

Tuesday evenings between 6:30-8:30pm is based at the container at the skate park for a youth café session that includes cooking and participating in a range of tabletop activities. YCSW will be engaging with young people aged 13 – 19 to develop the container and increase its use. The session will offer young people improved access to support for physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, sexual health and relationship issues, improved access to employability and training support and access to positive activities. They will provide an opportunity to build positive relationships with trusted adults, have more access to relevant support services, and educate and discourage young people from involvement with serious violence, criminal activity, and substance misuse. Young people have said that they are very excited about making the container into a Youth Space, with many sharing the feeling that: “It will be nice to have a space to make our own – somewhere to feel safe and relax”.

The aims of both Monday and Tuesday’s sessions are to reduce anti-social behaviour and criminal damage incidents related to young people in the High Street, skate park and Town Park, by engaging young people more with their community and increasing their feelings of community ownership.

Further to this, Thursday evenings between 4:30 – 6:00pm at the Town hall is the ‘MSN Adventurer's Guild’. This club has been set up as a safe space for 11 – 19-year-olds with a passion for board

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games and gaming activities such as Dungeons and Dragons, Wargaming and other games activities. The club provides the ideal space for those to come and feel free to be themselves and meet with other people who share their passions.

We will also be running our creative space in the town hall from 6:30 – 8:30 for 11 – 14-year-olds. This inclusive group will be a chance for young people to meet with us and each other and to take part in a range of creative activities, as well as developing their confidence and social skills. This aim of the group is to provide everyone with equal access to opportunities and resources and will be perfect for young people hoping to avoid larger, noisier group settings.

After the success of the summer activities delivered at the Astro Courts at Midsomer Norton Sports Centre in partnership with Bath Rugby Foundation, Bath Area Play Project and partners,

Youth Connect will also return for Christmas holiday activities from the 20th to the 23rd of December.

Youth Connect provide a range of other services for young people, such as supporting unemployed young people or provide individuals with support with issues that affect them. More information on Youth Connect services can be found at www. youthconnectsouthwest.org.uk. Harry Parsons is the lead for the Midsomer Norton work and can be contacted via: harry.parsons@ycsw.org.uk or 07971 011225.