The Garforth Gazette

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to meet Faye, the woman who is running a new youth club in the town courtesy of Eco-Friendly Garforth. It is named ‘Fair Shares’, and available for those aged 11-16, after school from 3.30-5pm. Speaking to her about her mission in a crowded coffee shop provided less of a challenge than I thought, as a pair of friends had let us share the other side of their table.

“My name is Faye and I’m working for Eco-Friendly Garforth as part of their Fair Shares project, delivering youth work in the local area for the young people of Garforth.”

“I’ve been involved with Fair Shares since around April.”

“I was very excited to get stuck in!”

So, what activities does Fair Shares run?

“We do a real mix of stuff, anything from crafty artsy stuff to more active, various games and sports and team building activities.”

And where are you located?

“We’re in Garforth Cricket Club at the moment, as a general rule we’re doing most sessions (there). Occasionally if we are doing a cooking activity we will use other venues as well.”

So, tell me the timeline!

“We’re going to be launching again in October. Young people (will) sign up for four weeks at a time. Our October sessions are going to be based around planters and pumpkins, building some mini planters, growing some veggies, (we are) going to have some opportunities for people to do some sports.

(There will be) crochet, a bit of printing. On the final session, we are going to be doing a Halloween Party. We’re going to do some pumpkin carving.

November is going to be based around lanterns and sweet treats, so we are going to be doing baking and cooking sustainably, making lanterns to bring to the Garforth Christmas Light Switch On.”

And winter?

“We have it the rough name of December: More Sustainable Christmas. We just want to give people the chance to create things for people they care about or themselves. We’ll be doing a bit of baking, maybe some lino printing to make Christmas cards, and hoping to build some Christmas decorations- teaching some basic woodwork skills. (We will be) rounding it off with a Christmas Party!”

There will also be a chance to do some building and growing things- stuff that AI will not be able to replace!

“I think it’s really important that young people can be feeding back. When they don’t like an idea, okay! We let that inform what we are doing.”

Faye was kind enough to tell me a little bit more about the ethos surrounding the youth club, and why Eco-Friendly Garforth decided on starting this for teenagers in the community.

“To me Fair Shares is about reminding young people that they should have a sense of ownership over their area, where they’re living, and how they spend their time.”

“I don’t think young people nowadays are given a real fair shot in the world, like opportunities are quite scarce, and resources are pretty scarce in schools and extracurricular activities, parents are struggling with the cost of living crisis.

I think when young people say ‘oh, I’m bored’ or ‘there’s nothing for me to do’, we should be really listening to that and recognising that they’re not getting their fair share in society at the moment.”

Fair Shares has been getting involved with the community since their inception, including going to local schools to tell teenagers about what they offer.

“Because it’s such early days for the project, it takes a while to get the word out.”

“While some sessions have had a really good turnout and had ten kids turn up, there’s also been weeks where we’ve had no kids turn up. It depends on a lot of factors, like the weather, or whether they’ve got exams, or whether our promotion has reached people effectively that week or not.”

“We’ve been able to make it into Garforth Academy as well, we’re building relationships not only with the young people but also with the schools and with parents.”

“We went in and delivered an assembly, which went really well. Following that we got some good attendance. We are also hoping to build a stronger relationship with them, as well as working with Brigshaw.”

To Faye, it is imperative that kids in the local area know what opportunities are around them, especially close to home in small towns.

“I don’t think that young people should have to be looking to other cities and more built up areas when this is their home.”

There was hopes on her end that the initiative would continue receiving National Lottery funding post 2026, which makes the whole project possible.

So, what would she say to teenagers and preteens who are considering whether Fair Shares is for them?

“What do (you) do with (your) free time? What do (you) want to be doing with (your) free time? What do (you) care about?”

To parents, she would advise them to let people know that the club exists and offers opportunities for young people.

“Help us to spread the word!”

You can find a sign-up link for October’s activities here.

You can find the Eco-Friendly Garforth Facebook page here.