Over the last year, our Senior Youth Worker, Chris Moore, has been working on renovating the youth centre’s DJ booth; a fun space for young people to explore music. Our DJ booth is a popular slot for young people to sign up to, providing a soundtrack for our open access nights.

This creative space was starting to look shabby, and we found the set-up was not overly usable for the young people. It needed a good lot of painting, sanding and a proper re-organisation, so that we could make better use of it. Cue Chris, and his renovating skills! But after redecoration, we hit a problem. With the DJ booth looking slick and smart and ready for action, we investigated the old equipment and it was looking just that, old, and not fit for purpose.

Chris remembered Councillor Stuart Hughes, and his ‘locality budget’; each of our County Councillors has an annual fund of £10,000 that they can use to respond to local needs. Councillors can, if they wish, make grants to support projects or activities that benefit the communities they represent.

I spoke to Councillor Hughes about the work we’d done over the last year on the DJ booth, what we hoped to use the space for, and the problem we’d hit upon with the equipment. As a member of Sidmouth Town Council’s Youth Panel, and a passionate community supporter, he was keen to help the youth centre; after our discussion and a brief application form, he agreed to provide a grant for new speakers and amps. We are thrilled!

Chris said: “It’s brilliant news, the equipment will be really useful and the young people will be stoked!
“The DJ booth makeover has meant that we've been able to update old paint work while bringing brighter colour to the youth centre. The funding provided by Councillor Stuart Hughes means we have been able to update our old music equipment and bring it more up to date with higher quality sound enabling us to widen opportunities for young people to learn new skills in music and sound.”

Another of our lead youth workers, Hannah Vicarage, said: “Fabulous news! That's really great it has been agreed; what a win for the youth centre.”

A big thanks to Councillor Hughes! We look forward to showing off our new DJ booth with young people and the community of Sidmouth!