A community youth project serving the young people of Hartlepool has received a generous donation thanks to a resident of the luxury housing development, Wynyard Park.
A cheque for £300 has been donated to The West View Project Children and Young People’s Activity Centre, by Wynyard Park resident, Paul Bradley.
Paul, who has lived on Wynyard Park since 2015, made the generous donation to the West View Project after experiencing first-hand the work that the charity does with young people in the community.
Paul said: “A big draw of Wynyard Park for me was the woodland areas that surrounded it. On occasions, whilst out walking I would see the West View Project’s minibus parked up and as I walked through the forest I could see the young people involved in their forestry activities.
“I was really keen to support the charity with this initiative. I work for Shell who have a charity pot that employees can apply for an amount of money from for an organisation or charity that is special to them.
“On contacting the team at West View Project to chat about my donation I found out about the work that was going on at the West View Project Children and Young People’s Activity Centre, a charity which gives children and young people a place to go to outside of school, which offers them a sense of belonging.”
Wynyard Park has an ongoing partnership with the West View Project, supporting its work by generously donating a section of its woodland to the project’s forestry school scheme. Later this year the West View Project plan to take a group of local primary schools to the Park to support the grounds and maintenance team with the planting of 400 saplings.
Lindsay Hildreth, Children’s Services Manager at The West View Project said: “The West View Project Children and Young People’s Activity Centre Is a new development that we’re trying to grow.
“The charity has recently received funding from The Greggs Trust which is helping us with this growth, but we are still heavily reliant upon charitable donations and fundraising which is why receiving a cheque like this means so much to the charity and the young people who benefit from it.
“A big part of the development of the West View Project as a whole is looking at how we can get the community more involved in what we’re doing. To know that the work that we’re doing out there is being seen and recognised by the people in Hartlepool and surrounding areas like Wynyard Park, who are in turn wanting to help sustain what we have, is brilliant.
“We try not to just absorb it in to general costs, but put it towards something particular. We are hoping to put this money towards a residential in the February half term, taking the kids away for a few nights.”
Paul added: “I was brought up in Hartlepool and spent a lot of time around this area. It’s had its good times, and it’s had its bad, but what is great is that there is something here for the young generations to enjoy after school. Projects like this are disappearing across the country and it’s important that as a community we support them in any way that we can.”
