Cellar

AN IDEAL PLACE TO HANG OUT was the headline in the Welwyn & Hatfield Times on Wednesday 14th Febraury 2001, five days after the opening of the Cellar by Linda Mendez, chairman of the Welwyn Hatfield Council.

Linda Mendez opening the Cellar

A church survey of under 18-year-olds showed that young people "wanted a place they could call their own"; so the Cellar at St Francis Church has been refurbished to provide a place for young people to hang out and meet friends as well as to provide a centre for the Church Youth work see Youth.

Much of the hard work in preparation of the converted premises was done by Youth Worker Glen Atkinson; he explained; "It has been my vision to get this cellar converted into something that WGC youngsters can be proud of . . . ."

Glen Atkinson (centre right) with Linda Mendez, Jenny Buck and Peter Louis, the vicar of St Francis Church WGC

The Youth Club is not the only activity to benefit from the refurbishment

The Cellar Project

The Cellar Project began in April 2001. St Francis runs the project in close partnership with Stanborough School. The aim of the project is to help youngsters who have difficulty with attendance at school. In helping the young people the project also is helping the school and the local community. What is important is how the project and the volunteers involved try to meet that aim of helping the youngsters.

The project works in this way:

	Stanborough School identifies students (up to now, solely from years 7 and 8), who it feels could benefit from the one-to-one help that the Cellar Project provides.
	The Church has drawn up a rota of volunteers (from many different backgrounds) all of whom have a desire to help the students.
	Each Monday morning from 9.00am to 10.45am (the first two periods of the school day) three volunteers staff the Cellar and work closely with the young people who have been referred by the School.
	Together, the students and the volunteers work on a variety of tasks; for example, drawing, games to improve the students grasp of English language and Maths, model building.
	The aim of the volunteers is to build the students confidence and to improve their behaviour to their benefit and that of the school.

The Cellar Club - Parkway Churches Group

The Cellar Club meets, appropriately enough, in the cellar of St Francis Church, recently refurbished with a food bar, pine tables and benches and casual chairs.

The club exists to offer an informal meeting place for anyone in the area. In practice many of those who attend have experienced some form of mental illness. Rules are minimal and there are no structured meetings. Our 'visitors' come for a chat, a cup of tea or coffee and a snack; sometimes for a game of chess or draughts. In recent months an average of 8 visitors a week have called in during our 'opening hours' which are 4 - 8pm on Thursdays. This is about the right number for the available space.

Two 'helpers' are on duty for a period of two hours at a time. These come from churches within the Parkway Churches group - at present we have helpers from the United Reformed Church, St Bonaventure's Catholic Church and the Society of Friends as well as St Francis Church.

Helpers prepare food and drinks and are available to chat to our visitors. Often we feel that the most valuable contribution we make is simply to listen. Some visitors are homeless or transient and come only once or twice. Some have been coming almost every week since the Cellar Club first started and find it an important feature of their lives.