Youth centre receives extra cash

YOUNG people from Dunmow Youth Centre were awarded £1000 by Essex County Council at the Hanningfield Awards last week. The money, picked up by Salaam Al-Rawi, will help 26 people from the youth centre get closer to achieving their plan to conduct an exch

YOUNG people from Dunmow Youth Centre were awarded £1000 by Essex County

Council at the Hanningfield Awards last week.

The money, picked up by Salaam Al-Rawi, will help 26 people from the youth centre get closer to achieving their plan to conduct an exchange with Northern Ireland next year.

The Hanningfield Awards were introduced four years ago to help young people receive funding for worthy projects, when they otherwise may not be able to afford it.

Leader of Essex County Council, Lord Hanningfield, said: "I am very pleased to be able to support the ventures of young people in Essex for the fourth year running.

"These initiatives don't just fulfil personal ambition, they also help other people and communities across the UK and internationally, which is what makes these awards so special and commendable."

Youth worker Linda Barnes, who manages Dunmow Youth Centre, was thrilled to receive the money.

She said: "We're very pleased to have been granted this money. We were awarded an amount last year as well, so to have been successful two years on the trot must suggest that we're doing a lot of good work.

"We use the money for activities and projects for the young people - we are raising money to have an exchange with young people from Belfast, and need about £23,000 to do this.

"It is a project devised to look at how religious discrimination affects young people."

Around £2,000 was raised towards the exchange trip when the youth centre raffled a genuine 1966 signed World Cup England shirt.