As the carnage continues this photo captures the emptiness and sadness that follows the burial of a place and time when creative youth work flourished. As Maxine Seager ponders, ” felt sad to see this this morning… If you ever set foot in the place you got to have some happy memories… Those that didn’t make it have been robbed. Be interested to see if yp can set their hearts on bricks and mortar spaces again, or will be prepared to settle for the brave new world click like click like existence. [It was] shut end of March last year, used to have our wonderful music project, arts work, sexual health clinic with docs, lgbt group, young carers, disabled up project, dance, youth forum, youth opportunity fund, duke of Edinburgh, princes trust, outdoor pursuits stuff and kayaks in the shed, all kinds of youth work training, volunteers, carnivals, festivals, community development, parties, misdemeanours, arguments and debates, good times, hope they come back.”

In the meantime the centre remains up for sale, price dropped from £250k to 200k

Property Search – Former Tameside Young People’s Centre, Duke Street, Denton,…

The property comprises a single storey brick built premises beneath a pitched slate roof. Internally the property is split into circa 20 rooms comprising offices, meeting rooms, large central hall, stores and kitchen/WC facilities. There is a mix of vinyl, laminate and carpeted flooring, fluorescent strip lights and some rooms with suspended ceilings. Externally there is a yard to the rear and some smaller out buildings for storage.

Perhaps one of our youth sector’s CEO’s beloved social entrepreneurs will save the day and reopen the centre as a social enterprise, claiming to be new and innovative, whilst vainly trying to mimic the past. Not very likely? Or perhaps in struggle we can breathe fresh life into a youth work worthy of its name and rescue the centre and its history.  We can but try.