{"id":9082,"date":"2016-02-19T16:27:10","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T16:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=9082"},"modified":"2016-02-19T16:27:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T16:27:10","slug":"closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"Closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre comes as surprise to residents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE youth centre at Whitchurch High School has closed suddenly.<br \/>\nThe 40-odd members found out about the decision seven days before last week\u2019s closure.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9088\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9088\" style=\"width: 343px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9088\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-9088\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Ararat Church (Photo: John Lord)\" width=\"343\" height=\"257\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-9088\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Ararat Church (Photo: John Lord)\" width=\"343\" height=\"257\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> <strong>Ararat Church, near Whitchurch Common. \u00a0(Photo: John Lord)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nA replacement weekly session will be provided by YMCA Cardiff at Ararat Church near Whitchurch Common. The previous centre\u2019s youth workers will work as YMCA employees.<br \/>\nThe sessions on Wednesday evenings between 6.30pm and 8.30pm will start in the second week of March. Meanwhile, YMCA staff plan to meet with focus groups of young people to discuss what they want in the new provision.<br \/>\nWhitchurch Youth Centre had also hosted Duke of Edinburgh Award groups. They now plan to meet in Gabalfa Youth Centre for their next meeting on Monday.<br \/>\nHowever the groups are yet to hear whether they can continue at the Whitchurch High School site after half-term.<br \/>\nLast year the council faced fierce opposition for its attempts to make budget savings of \u00a341 million to youth, elderly and library services.<br \/>\nA petition against the closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre was one of many submitted to the council. It had more than 14,000 signatures.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CYS-logo.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9089\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-9089\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CYS-logo-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"Cardiff Youth Service logo. \" width=\"330\" height=\"171\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-9089\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CYS-logo-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"Cardiff Youth Service logo. \" width=\"330\" height=\"171\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><br \/>\nThe YMCA alternative is a result of Cardiff Council\u2019s new model of Youth Services launched in 2015, which reduced open access centre-based provision and instead focused on a needs-led basis through a grant process.<br \/>\nYMCA Cardiff received a Youth Innovation Grant for youth service in Whitchurch during the second round of bidding last year. In the first round, grants were awarded to various local community groups, as well as Cardiff City Foundation and Ministry of Life.<br \/>\nWhitchurch Youth Centre was located on the Upper School site and had two large social areas, a computer studio, an art room, a music studio, and an information room, as well as a coffee bar with kitchen. The centre also had access to various school facilities, including the gym and minibuses.<br \/>\nCllr Sarah Merry, Cabinet Member for Education, said: \u201cOur preference was to continue provision from the same venue, but this is a way of providing services that were under threat.<br \/>\n\u201cAs a council, we have to change the way we deliver services if we are to continue to be able to provide them, given the difficult financial situation.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cAt least these organisations that receive the Youth Innovation Grant can apply for additional grants to supplement the work they are doing.\u201d<br \/>\nRhiwbina councillor Jayne Cowan said: &#8220;I was advised that the Whitchurch Youth Service Provision based at Whitchurch High School has ceased, with immediate effect.<br \/>\n\u201cThis came as a big shock to me. Many residents in Rhiwbina and Cardiff North sent their children to this longstanding and popular club.<br \/>\n\u201cI understand alternative provision will start in March at the Ararat Church in Whitchurch via the YMCA, but I will be writing to the officials to ask for details.<br \/>\n\u201cI am concerned that we have a month with no provision, and no communication has happened with all councillors to my knowledge. I found out thanks to a tweet from ex-councillor Siobhan Corria.&#8221;<br \/>\nHer son Ashley Smith, 13, has been a member of Whitchurch Youth Centre since Year 7.<br \/>\nHe said: \u201cAbout 40 people went to the club. It was really good for building character and socialising.<br \/>\n\u201cIt was our opportunity to hang out with all our friends, but at the moment there\u2019s none.\u201d<br \/>\nYMCA operations manager Caroline Ryan said: \u201cThis will be a positive development. We want to provide a good-quality service and will take the lead from young people.<br \/>\n\u201cIf they let us know what they want, hopefully we will be able to provide it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE youth centre at Whitchurch High School has closed suddenly. The 40-odd members found out about the decision seven days before last week\u2019s closure. A replacement weekly session will be provided by YMCA Cardiff at Ararat Church near Whitchurch Common. The previous centre\u2019s youth workers will work as YMCA employees. The sessions on Wednesday evenings between 6.30pm and 8.30pm will start in the second week of March. Meanwhile, YMCA staff plan to meet with focus groups of young people to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[929,1291,132,46,1925,2616,1699,812,339,240,3421],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-9082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whitchurch","tag-budget","tag-cardiff-2","tag-council","tag-cuts","tag-economy","tag-social","tag-society","tag-south-wales","tag-wales","tag-whitchurch","tag-youth-services"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre comes as surprise to residents - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre comes as surprise to residents - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE youth centre at Whitchurch High School has closed suddenly. The 40-odd members found out about the decision seven days before last week\u2019s closure. A replacement weekly session will be provided by YMCA Cardiff at Ararat Church near Whitchurch Common. The previous centre\u2019s youth workers will work as YMCA employees. The sessions on Wednesday evenings between 6.30pm and 8.30pm will start in the second week of March. Meanwhile, YMCA staff plan to meet with focus groups of young people to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-19T16:27:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cathyduncan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cathyduncan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/\",\"name\":\"Closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre comes as surprise to residents - The Cardiffian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-19T16:27:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Ararat-Church-photo-John-Lord-300x225.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/02\/19\/closure-of-whitchurch-youth-centre-comes-as-surprise-to-residents\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Closure of Whitchurch Youth Centre comes as surprise to residents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\",\"name\":\"The Cardiffian\",\"description\":\"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/41c76b1e66d8cf6e57cba8550c3772b1\",\"name\":\"cathyduncan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d4d0895f6e1f7ccb86d04236a870a18b\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7cd1b1b63598c25c15d3e0d390366ec2ba1c99865b1a23c34339be8c5c396a81?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cathyduncan\"},\"description\":\"Lecturer, Cardiff University News Journalism MA. 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