FRODSHAM Youth Club could be saved from  closure after it was thrown an £8,000 lifeline.

Despite the club, which stands adjacent to the community centre on Fluin Lane, growing in popularity with almost 200 children and teenagers enjoying activities every week, the much-loved group is struggling to survive.

But now the club, which has stood in the market town for the past 43 years, could be saved from closure after Frodsham Town Council pledged to give the community facility a donation of £5,000 every year.

And to kick start the regeneration of the building and boost club activities, the council has given the club an extra £3,000, to help bring the club into the modern age and open a new youth cafe.

Speaking during a Frodsham Town Council budget meeting last week, Frodsham Youth Association (FYA) treasurer Rod Hyde said the association’s annual income often fell short of the £12,000 it has to find every year just to meet routine running costs and that the club was struggling to survive.

Mr Hyde said the town council’s support was ‘great news’ and would help ‘keep things ticking over’ as the FYA launches  a fundraising drive for a £14,000 capital project to refurbish the building to attract more outside lettings and increase the range of activities offered to young people.

The club’s future plans include opening on Saturdays and Sundays and providing a warm and safe youth cafe where teenagers can hang out.
Town council chairman  Mark Warren said: “The FYA isn’t about to fold tomorrow, but it would be painful and very sad for Frodsham to watch our youth club slowly withering and dying and we’ve got to support them.

“I’d love to lavish many more thousands of pounds on the FYA, but we are a small town council with a reasonably small budget.

“The council does a lot for certain segments of the community, including our annual £5 Christmas shopping vouchers for the over-70s, and we’ve got to balance our priorities to include our young residents.”

The council is currently considering relocating from Castle Park, where rent is paid to the borough council, and Cllr Warren has suggested renting an office in the youth club building would provide an even bigger boost for the FYA.