A new co-ordinator is to take over at Sidmouth Youth Centre.

Emily Sethi, a wellbeing practitioner with Young Devon, is due to start running the service in the near future.

The current co-ordinator, Ben Feasey, is leaving on Thursday, March 12, to run Sidmouth's new Headlight youth mental health project, which will start up in April.

Mr Feasey said of her appointment: "It's really exciting and we're happy that she's starting here, she has a wealth of background knowledge of youth work."

The youth centre, in Manstone Road, has also had a temporary facelift.

Because there are long-term plans to rebuild the centre, very little refurbishment work has been done there lately.

But the local Salvation Army, which pays to use the centre three times a week, has funded a new carpet for the meeting room, and new blinds for the meeting room and main hall.

Ben Feasey said the youth centre team are extremely grateful for the donation.

"We use the meeting room as a chill-out space for young people to relax and talk, and also for consultation and external bookings," he said.

"So the fact that it look smart now helps us to have a nicer area, and people are more inclined to want to rent it out, and the money that comes in is paramount to us being able to continue to run the service."

In addition to its activities and support for young people, the centre has started running awareness sessions for the parents of children at Sidmouth Primary School.

Ben Feasey has teamed up with the school's parent support adviser, Tracey Tipton, to design various sessions to help parents discuss potentially difficult topics with their children.

Around 20 parents attended a workshop on Thursday, January 30, on how to speak to children about mental health.

The next session, on a date to be announced soon, will focus on how to talk about sex and relationships.

Later in the year there will be a session on how parents can help their children during the transition from primary to secondary education, and from school to college or work.