GREAT Houghton youth group has been providing services for the village for 20 years - and could be bringing that same level of service to Darfield, if plans to create a satellite group go ahead.
The group, set up initially as part of the Villages For Community Partnership but now operating independently as a voluntary organisation, was created when mother and daughter team Coun Dorothy Higginbottom and Coun Dorothy Coates realised there was no youth provision for the Great Houghton area.
Working out of the Miners’ Welfare Hall in the centre of the village, the group provides weekly activities for primary and secondary age groups.
And it really has become a family enterprise, with Coun Coates getting her daughter Leah Glazzard to start off first as a member and now, as a supervisor at the group.
Coun Coates said: “It costs us £10,000 a year to provide one night a week and a play scheme in the summer holidays. We have run residentials to Edale, trips to Flamingoland, Alton Towers and other venues and three or four to London, where in 24 hours we have managed to fit in the London Eye, a BBC Studios tour, the dungeons, and a theatre visit. But we do as much free stuff as we can.
“Since about a year ago, I have been planning a way to fund a youth group in Darfield, which would be a satellite of this group.”
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
