Better youth facilities now a reality

LYME Regis will have a youth club worthy of its young citizens.

I’d almost given up hope of writing that sentence. Just a few months ago it seemed there was no prospect of peace breaking out between the trustees of the former young people’s club and those who wanted to reopen the Church Street premises.

As reported in last week’s View, Lyme Regis Development Trust, thanks to a donation of £60,000 from Dorset County Council has now acquired the building, closed for several years because it was deemed unfit for purpose.

There are those, understandably, still smarting over the fact that the trustees did not hand over the club to the town, especially as half the money for its original purchase came from local fundraising.

The trustees will argue that they have a responsbility to the owners of the property, the National Association of Young People’s Clubs, and that the money they have acquired from the sale will stay in the town and be used to make grants to worthy youth causes.

Now the property is back in community hands, the emphasis will turn to making the building safe and then carrying out the necessary improvements to reopen the club. Original estimates put this work at £270,000, a big sum to raise in these austere days, but with voluntary help this sum may reduce drastically.

Dorset County Council has come in for a lot of stick over the years for the meagre sums they have put into youth provision in Lyme Regis, much less than in other West Dorset towns.

But with the Woodroffe School now crucially involved in the future of the club, they have come up trumps with the £60,000 asking price. New youth leader, James Ward-Rice, whom I met last week, is looking forward to working with the town’s youngsters to create a provision which will be serve the town for many years.

He is not underestimating the challenge of raising such a large sum of money to get the club open, but he’s confident that by working in partnership with the yougsters (very important) and other agencies, a new youth club will emerge.

It’s impossible to give a date when the club doors will open again. In the meantime, an interim management committee involving all sections of those who have played a role in getting this far will be set up.

An immediate concern is to get the building watertight. I recently had a look around the former church hall and it was clear that much of the damage inside had been caused by water caused by poor maintenance over the years.

Some will say that the trustees should have exercised their duty of care more effectively over the years but lack of funds was clearly an issue here.

With last week’s heavy downpours, I understand that immediate repairs have to be carried out by the development trust to prevent further costly damage.

In last week’s front page story I wrote that the acquisition of the club premises was “good news” for the youth of Lyme.

That’s how we should look at this from now on, putting aside the anger and frustration that has surrounded this issue over the past 12 months.

At long last, a new youth club for Lyme is very much a reality. About time to, you may say. But a little patience may still be required.

EVENT OF THE WEEK

A HUGELY beneficial by-product of the new Skrabl organ at St Michael’s Parish Church has been the boost it has given to the musical life of Lyme Regis.

Since its installation last December, a number of brilliant concerts have been staged at the parish church as fundrasiers, bringing some of the top names in the organ world to Lyme Regis.

None have been more enjoyable, even to a musical philistine like myself, than Saturday evening’s concert by the Slovenian male voice choir with the almost impossible pronunciation, Smarje pri Jelsah.

The common denominator, of course, is Anton Skrabl, one of the principal soloists with the 22-strong choir and the man whose company built and installed the magnificent new organ in the parish church, recognised as the best organ in the diocese and I daresay one of the best church organs in the country.

The choir is made up of businessmen in the town on Regaska Slatini, near to which Anton Skrabl’s factory is based. Clearly, they all have a passion for the music of their native country, evidenced by the number of voluntary encores at Saturday’s concert.

I saw the choir arrive at the church on Saturday afternoon as they carried crates of Slovenian wine into St Michael’s, necessary, we were told later by compere Andrew Nicholson, for lubrication!

Earlier in the day, they visited Perry’s Cider Farm at Dowlish Wake where they felt obliged to taste the local brew.

Such libation certainly left them in good voice with the audience captivated by the musical tour of Slovenia they were given later in the day. The fact that we did not understand the words made no difference.

What came over strongly to me was the sheer enjoyment of the singers and the obvious pride in their musical heritage.

Having written a book, From Slovenia with love... on the story behind the organ, I’m a big admirer of the organ appeal committeee, led so enthusiastically by Andrew Nicholson. There’s still a little way to go before they finish paying for the organ. Not only are events like Saturday’s concert helping them get to their final target but they are also providing Lyme Regis will quality entertainment which would never have happened had it not been for the Skrabl organ.

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