Dr Keith Hendry has pledged his support to Warrington’s young people by becoming the latest Founder Patron of the charity Warrington Youth Zone.
Chair of Mersey Rivers Trust and founder of APEM Ltd, one of the Uk’s leading Environmental Consultancies, Dr Hendry shows his support for the Youth Zone by joining their Founder Patron Family.
Warrington Youth Zone provides the young people of the town access to 21st Century Youth Provision. Our state-of-the-art facility is open to young people aged 7-19, and up to 25 for those with additional needs. The £7 million development boasts a wealth of facilities such as a 3G football pitch on the roof, arts and crafts, dance studio, health and wellbeing, kitchen, podcast suite, climbing wall, boxing ring, fully equipped gym, with over 20 activities every night, which are available all year round.
With over 100 staff members and volunteers trained in delivering a diverse and wide range of activities, the Youth Zone truly offers young people somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. Young people pay just £5 per year to become a member and then 50p every time they visit, our on-site café provides hot meals for £1.
Dr Hendry is an aquatic scientist with many years’ experiences in water quality and fisheries management in rivers, estuaries, lakes, reservoirs and canals, and has been heavily involved in the successful clean-up of the Manchester Ship Canal and Salford Quays.
Dr Hendry also plans on passing his passion for waterways on to young people of Warrington with employability opportunities and fun days out for Youth Zone members to Mersey Rivers Trust.
The Youth Zone runs an employability and life skills programme, Employability Matters is for disadvantaged young people aged 14 – 25. Sessions include a combination of one-to-one mentoring support, group activities and employability workshops to explore and secure employability and educational outcomes.
Dr Hendry said “the Warrington Youth Zone is a truly inspirational and much needed place for our young people to go, thrive and enjoy themselves. I have been immensely impressed with the On-Side Charity and the Youth Zones I have visited so far. The facilities and opportunities they offer are fantastic, and the Warrington site is quite simply outstanding. I look forward to seeing the Warrington Youth Zone become increasingly successful to give the young people of Warrington a place to cherish that they are proud to be associated with – I know I am.”
Dave McNicholl, Chief Executive of Warrington Youth Zone said: “As a charity, the Youth Zone relies heavily on donations to help us achieve our ambitions for young people. To have Dr Hendry join our family of Founder Patrons is incredible and we really do appreciate his support and we look forward to working with him on creating new opportunities for young people”
Warrington Youth Zone is being made possible thanks to a partnership between Warrington Council, young people and local businesspeople such as Dr Hendry and philanthropists, who become part of the Youth Zone’s Founder Patrons family and contribute to its annual running costs and the local community.
