Four Acre Trust is leading the way in supporting young people in Croydon by generously renewing their donation to Legacy Youth Zone of £25,000 a year over the next three years.
Four Acre Trust immediately saw the value in Legacy Youth Zone, becoming one of the first Founder Patrons to come on board to support Legacy even before the Youth Zone building had been completed.
Legacy Youth Zone is a £6.5 million purpose-built youth facility, which provides members with access to an indoor climbing wall, sports hall, fully equipped gym, arts & crafts studio, music room with recording studio, training kitchen, 3G kick pitch, dance & drama studio, and much more – all for just £5 annual membership and 50p per visit. The Youth Zone also works with partner organisations to deliver enterprise and employability workshops to help get young people into education, employment or training.
Community support has been at the top of Legacy Youth Zone’s agenda since the UK Government announced its current measures in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to having supplied over 12,000 meals so far to local families, staff have had to adapt swiftly, changing the way that they work to continue to support the young people of Croydon and neighbouring boroughs during this period of uncertainty.
Legacy Youth Zone staff have been busy creating engaging online content for their members, delivering activity resource packs, online gaming, competitions, challenges and quizzes, in addition to making wellbeing calls, and offering one-to-one support to members where needed. Given this time of uncertainty, all at Legacy Youth Zone are absolutely delighted with this hugely generous donation from Four Acre Trust, which will enable it to continue to support thousands of young people in Croydon every year.
Legacy Youth Zone is delivered in partnership with OnSide Youth Zones and supported by the community, local businesses, philanthropists and Croydon Council.
Legacy Youth Zone has been hugely popular with local young people, with 6,500 members already signed up. It is the third OnSide Youth Zone that opened last year in London and the first in South London. The OnSide Youth Zones network currently welcomes over 50,000 members across 13 Youth Zones in Croydon, Barnet, Barking and Dagenham, Bolton, Carlisle, Blackburn, Oldham, Wigan, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Wirral, Warrington and Chorley.
John Bothamley, Chairman of Four Acre Trust, commented:
“Four Acre Trust are so pleased to see how Legacy has held together throughout the pandemic, and their great facilities are again available for all young people. It is an important asset for Croydon and it’s available for many youth organisations to access as well as individuals.”
Barnabas Shelbourne, Chief Executive, Legacy Youth Zone said:
“We are so thankful for the enormous amount of support Four Acre Trust have given Legacy Youth Zone over the last three years as part of our Founder Patron Family. As you can imagine we are extremely delighted that they have made the decision to continue supporting us in Croydon to further grow and develop Legacy, especially during this difficult time. The support of our Founder Patrons enables us to help raise young people’s aspirations, inspiring them to become confident, happy, and able to fulfil their potential.”