WATCH: Wolverhampton's £6 million Youth Zone The Way opens to the public
In its prominent location just inside Wolverhampton's ring road, The Way Youth Zone has attracted plenty of attention since work started 15 months ago. And today the £6 million project, which has been backed by some of the city's biggest names, opened its doors to the public.
Bosses organised a range of entertainment for those first in including a performance by Black Country singer Sasha Simone, who made the final of The Voice last year.
Development manager for The Way, Phillipa Gregory, said she could not wait for the youth zone to be up and running.
"We have had phenomenal demand for our boxing studio in particular," she said. "We have got loads of people booked in already.
"We also have a couple of drama groups who have signed up to use the facilities here. We are all really excited to have it open now and to start working with young people.
"This has been a £6m project for them so they can spend less time on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights and instead come and join us here."
Doors opened at 10am and young people between the ages of eight and 19, or up to 25 with a disability, were able to sign up and become fully-fledged members.
Wolves owner Steve Morgan, who is behind the youth zone, officially opened its doors at 11.30am.
Other guests included Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Ian Brookfield, Wolves hero Steve Bull and Baroness Heyhoe Flint.
After midday the youth zone opened completely with young people invited to have a go on the wide range of facilities.
There were also performances from bands Indigo Stones, from Smestow School, and The Vintage Summers, from Highfields School.
The Way will offer a one-stop all-inclusive hub for children and teenagers in the city to socialise, play and learn.
Activities available include football, basketball, martial arts, fitness and dance, arts and crafts, media and music, enterprise, wellbeing and self-improvement.
The state-of-the-art facility boasts a high-spec musicroom, a 3G pitch, enterprise media suite, climbing wall, multi-use four-court sports hall, cafe, dance studio, gym, cooking area, general recreation area and much more.
Several organisations have thrown their weight behind the centre including Wolverhampton Homes which pledged to invest £75,000 over the next three years.
The organisation – which looks after more than 23,000 homes on behalf of Wolverhampton council – was named as a founder patron of the multi-million pound project.
The City of Wolverhampton College, Marston's and Carvers were also named founder patrons.
It has also been supported by One Direction superstar Liam Payne, who comes from Wolverhampton. The singer made a surprise appearance at the centre in April last year.
Underpinning the revenue funding from The Way's founder patrons is £5.5m of capital investment from The Morgan Foundation, The Queen's Trust, St James's Place Foundation, Sport England, Garfield Weston, Football Foundation and Keltruck.
Wolverhampton council is also investing more than £3m in The Way towards both the development and running costs of the project.
