00:00Here in Blaina, it was just really noticeable how many young people were out and just hanging around.
00:05And I realised this is something we can do. We can contribute here.
00:07We can start something where hopefully young people will love coming.
00:12They'll feel safe, they'll be fed and they'll have a lot of fun whilst doing it.
00:16These days, young people probably don't have space within their communities anymore to socialise, to be themselves, somewhere that is
00:23warm.
00:24Yeah, over the last, I don't know, 16 months, we've been working on, yeah, redeveloping this centre to create a
00:32space for young people within the community of Blaina, Fistingham.
00:36We get around 120 or so young people who come through our doors every Tuesday evening, which is a real
00:42joy and tiring work and a privilege all at the same time.
00:46This is our second home where we're a family all together. Everyone cares, not only to the building, but to
00:53the people. We all care about each other because we're one family.
00:57People care about the community buildings. They want to improve them because, you know, you can get a grant for
01:03a lot of money, make the building look nicer.
01:05But if you can't actually afford to heat it, nobody's going to want to come into the building.
01:10Yeah, so it was just about renovating the building to a certain standard that would be comfortable, but also quite
01:17energy efficient and cheap to run.
01:21To turn this space into a warm space would be reasonably cheap.
01:26Similarly, you know, as our summers are getting hotter, if we wanted to provide this as a cool space, there's
01:31also an air conditioning system in here as well.
01:35I love the new space. It's got bigger rooms. We have bathrooms, we have here, and it's just a bigger
01:42place for a lot of kids to come.
01:44I hate the way Blaine O'Friesteung is described as a deprived town. We need to change that narrative. We
01:50might be poor economically, but socially and culturally, we're one of the richest in the world still.
01:55But it's about time we use that to create a better economic future, and that is also about taking pride,
02:01taking ownership, and re-channeling our energies.
02:04It's about us doing things for ourselves, proving that we can do things for ourselves,
02:13and that we need to change that
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