OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR YOUTH CLUB!  April Update

AN amazing 68 people attended the Easter Bingo held on 4th April, which we organised to help raise funds for some outdoor sports equipment. With the services of Sid Webb and his electronic Bingo machine, a fantastic range of donated Raffle and Bingo prizes and a wonderful array of home-made cakes at half-time, we are absolutely delighted to report that £317.00 was raised.

This has far exceeded our expectations, and we would like to extend our very grateful thanks to all those who attended and/or donated prizes. We are now in the very fortunate position of being able to purchase ALL the items on our “wish-list”, which will no doubt please our 38 members immensely. Sid very generously scheduled a “special” game just for the 18 youngsters that came, and donated the prizes himself and he commented on how well behaved they had all been during the course of the evening. Thank you again to everyone for your support, and we hope you enjoyed the evening.

Meanwhile, at our AGM on 16 March, there was no change of Office, with Kevin Maitland-Gleed as Chairman, Sallie Maitland-Gleed as Secretary, Vanessa Clarke as Treasurer and Sandra Northover as Club Leader. Michelle Jones was welcomed as a new Committee member, along with Sue Webb who was co-opted in January. Other remaining members are Emma Northover and Wendy Joyce.

The accounts are looking healthy with a recent addition of a £250.00 grant from Cpend towards the purchase of the new equipment that we need due to the increase in membership. The books were signed off by our new accountant, Kevin Rowsell.

Emma Northover has recently qualified for her First Aid certificate, and 8 club members recently attended a 3 week First Aid course in the village hall organised in conjunction with DYA it would appear that we have some budding nurses in our midst's! After last Christmas’ successful ice-skating party, we have booked a “Pool” party for this year, and an End of School Summer Disco is also arranged. Fees are to remain the same, which represent very good value to the members, and Kevin thanked The Team for their unstinting efforts both on club nights and outside events. All in all, it was the end of an eventful and successful year, and the beginning of a new one which looks set to be just as busy and exciting.

YOUTH CLUB UPDATE - January 2009

Following the meeting of the MSA Youth Club Committee on 13th Jan 09, we are delighted to report that, to date, we have 32 fully paid up members who have enjoyed Autumn activities such as canoeing, a Halloween party, Christmas Card competition, calendar making, a rock guitar/drums demo and ended the term with an ice-skating party in Poole with presents for all members.  Future events for the Spring are to include a self-defence demo by the Karate club, a return visit from the “rock band”, more new equipment and a couple of fund-raisers which can include all the family, so watch this space or the MSA web-site for updates on those.

Although the Senior Section hasn’t been running for a while, due to Lin Atkins resigning as Club Leader, we have decided to extend the age limit of the Juniors up to 14 from 13 to cater for those that may be missing out. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there will never be a Senior section again, but until someone who is suitable to take on as Leader steps up and trains, the club will have to remain on the back-burner.

Meanwhile, our sessions remain on fortnightly Fridays, 6.30 – 8.30 in the Hall for 8 – 14yrs, £1 for members and £1.50 for non-members and a Tuck Shop is always open! We offer a free “taster” session for new-comers to give it a try, and then the Annual Subscription is still only £5, which covers all insurances for trips, outside activities and excursions. 

We have Sandra Northover as Club Leader, with Wendy Joyce as Assistant Leader, plus 3 other CRB checked Volunteer helpers. 

Our dates up to Easter are: Feb 13th and 27th, March 13th and 27th and April 3rd when we break up until April 24th. 

For more details, please telephone Sallie (Committee Secretary) on 01258 837442.

Sallie Maitland-Gleed

News update - September 2008

The Junior section welcomes 8 — 13 year olds to a fortnightly club held in the Village Hall from 6.30 — 8.3Opm on Fridays.

To date, there are 24 fully paid up members, and 2 fully qualified Youth Leaders, Sandra Northover and Wendy Joyce, plus 3 CRB checked volunteer helpers. Sandra and Wendy offer a range of activities and events throughout term time, plus extra events such as canoeing, Team Leadership Challenge and a proposed ice skating trip to Poole as a Christmas treat! One Member recently completed a 2 day course at Buddens to achieve her BCU iStar certificate, and this course is hopefully to be offered again next year. Events also being arranged in the coming weeks are a self-defence demo and a live Rock Band demo!

The club regularly purchases new equipment and has most recently introduced a Karaoke machine, Nintendo Wii, 2 x dance mats and programs, new X-Box and PS2 games, Table tennis and Swingball! Each week, a craft table is available for card-making, badge-making and seasonal items. There is also a reasonably priced Tuck Shop available.

An annual Membership costs just £5-00 with a weekly fee of £1-00 which is only payable for the sessions that are attended. Non-members/guests pay £1-50 per session attended. You must be a fully paid up Member to take part in the extra activities, such as canoeing, for insurance purposes. The youngsters that attend are a nice, cohesive bunch of kids, but we do have some rules within the club, and swearing and bad behaviour are strongly discouraged.

The club is fortunate to have a strong committee that meet regularly throughout the year to make sure the Club Leaders are given support and help where needed.

Because the club is a an Affiliated Member of the DYA (Dorset Youth Association), based in Dorchester, we have the added bonus of their guidance and back-up, and it is this body that provide the FREE canoeing and challenges. We are hoping to send some Members off to the Brecon Beacons next year to complete an orienteering event!

The Senior section (14 -17 years) has experienced a variety of difficulties in the past 18 months since the new committee was formed, and at present has been put on the “back-burner” while the Club Leader up-dates her qualifications. There are a number of youngsters in this age bracket that have expressed an interest in the club re-opening, and the Committee is hoping to remedy this in the New Year.  Please watch this web site for the information and updates.

If you have any ideas how the Committee could improve this service, or you would be interested in becoming a Member or volunteer helper, or have time or resources to offer, then Sallie, our Secretary, would be pleased to hear from you on (01258) 837442.