A youth charity in Penrith has received nearly £10,000 to help hundreds of young people enjoy one of the great pleasures of childhood – playing outside.
The Outside Club has held free weekly outdoor sessions on the Pategill estate in Penrith since it began post-pandemic in 2022.
Founder and lead youth worker Caitlin Nugent said it had filled a big need in the area and had a major impact.
Caitlin said: “There were no youth clubs that aren’t religiously affiliated or focused on skills and sport. There was nothing that was just open access youth work for anyone to drop into and the park in Pategill had been closed since Covid and not reopened.
“There were regular complaints of anti-social behaviour because there was nowhere for young people to go and so the Tenants and Residents Association expressed that they wanted something there.
“So we started building a relationship and getting to know the area, and we had such a strong response from the very beginning.
“We took one activity and sat with the young people, and then as the demand grew and they built their own culture, they and us together created a club that now is such a strong part of their community and weekly activities.”
What began with 12 children attending now regularly has more than 40 each week, with over 260 aged nine to 15 seen since the start of the year.
Caitlin said they were driven by what the children want to do – a suggestion of mountain biking led to instructors being invited in and then a mountain biking session in Whinlatter Forest, for some of the children the first time they had been to the Lake District.
“Our main focus is to be non-judgmental adults for young people,” said Caitlin. “We are there to be a listening ear and to follow young people’s leads on that. That is the baseline of everything we do.”
Since The Outside Club started anti-social behaviour in Pategill has fallen by 86 per cent. While it’s hard to make a direct link, Caitlin is convinced the project has played a major part in this – the children see the play park as theirs and treat it as such.
“There’s a real sense of stewardship for the club and for the park now,” she said. “There’s significantly less vandalism at the park even when we’re not there.”
The club, which became a charity at the start of the year, last year started sessions at Hammond’s Pond in Carlisle which has also seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour. The aim is to take it to more places across the county.
Caitlin said: “There’s not a week that goes by where someone doesn’t see the impact of what we’re doing and ask us to expand to a different place.
“Anyone that comes along to one of our sessions is blown away by how magical it feels to see 40 kids on a play park of different ages all playing together and interacting together in different ways, because it’s just not something you see anymore.
“There’s no reason why that shouldn’t exist across the county.”
The funding of £9,775 came from the Hyperfast Cumbria Connections Fund, delivered by Fibrus. It was approved before The Outside Club became a charity, helping it to secure that status. It will help pay for 32 out of the 49 sessions it hosts each year.
“It’s completely vital,” added Caitlin. “Having someone that believed in us at that stage actually got us across the line. Now we’re at the start of something massive and so it’s really fundamental to that process.”
The Hyperfast Cumbria Connections Fund has already supported more than 35 local causes across Cumbria, ranging from youth groups and busy village halls to small grassroots projects.
Ross Jackson, senior associate stakeholder engagement at Hyperfast GB, said: “We are delighted to support The Outside Club and the incredible work it is doing to create opportunities for young people across Cumbria.
“The charity has shown how something as simple as providing a safe, welcoming place to meet, play and have their say can have such an impact on both young people and the wider community.
“At Fibrus, we are committed to investing in the communities where we are building our network, and this project is a fantastic example of the positive difference local organisations can make when they are given the support to grow.”
