'It gladdens the heart to see how many lives have been changed by this centre' - Wolverhampton business leader and founding patron delighted at continued success of The Way Youth Zone
The continued success of The Way Youth Zone is one which is being celebrated as much by the youngsters and staff who use it as the people who helped pave the way for the centre to open.
The centre on School Street in Wolverhampton city centre has been celebrating 10 years since it first opened its doors to the young people of Wolverhampton in January 2016.
The creation of The Way began back in 2012 when Wolverhampton Council began working in partnership with local businesses and teamed up with Onside to begin work on planning and building the centre, as well as being championed by successful entrepreneur and then-Wolves chairman, Steve Morgan CBE, as well as The Queen’s Trust and St James’s Place Foundation.
Among those working to help make the centre a reality at the time was John Gough, owner of Gough Group, who has been a patron of the charity since the very beginning and also served as Chairman of the Board.
He said he had joined a group on the board including then-Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey and John Bowater and spoke about the need for the centre at the time and what it was felt was needed for young people at the time.
He said: "At the time, they were closing down youth clubs and there was actually a little bit of resistance about building a new youth zone when they were closing down the centres, but then Wolverhampton had never had anything like this.
"All of the youth clubs were doing a good job, but were quite disparate and all over the system, so having a central hub was something which appealed to people and the local authority were involved in the original fundraising.
"It was around £6 million to build the Youth Zone and that was funded through various organisations, with the council and Steve Morgan providing half the money, and this land was found on what was a former cinema and while it was a triangular piece of land and difficult to develop, this is what was made available."
