91Èȱ¬

The team make quick work of the painting

The Jubilee Community Centre in Norwich has been given a whistle-stop make-over, turning the tired looking hall into a fresh and vibrant space.

A team of young volunteers worked with 91Èȱ¬ Radio Norfolk and Norwich City Council as part of the CSV project Agents For Change. The project aims to encourage young people aged 16-25 to volunteer in their community.

"The idea is to get young people to experience volunteering and for them to discover that it can be fun to help the local community," said project manager Janette Cooke.

"It gives them the opportunity to learn new skills, about team-working and the opportunity to meet to new people. It also looks good on a CV as experience tells us that employers are always interested in people's community and volunteering work," she added.

The volunteers picked up their brushes and paint rollers on Wednesday, 2 April, 2008. The team included a number of students from the University Of East Anglia who decided to take a day out of their Easter break to help.

Good atmosphere

"I think volunteering is an easy way to get this done as you can make this happen at a really quick pace. We're having a really nice time, it's good atmosphere," said volunteer Aarti Daryanani.

Lizzie Matthews, a sixth former at Notre Dame School, was also keen to get involved.

The team get ready to paint the centre

"It's not very often you can put something back into the community. I don't have a village hall so I thought it would be a good idea to do it. I like it and if you want to do something for others it's a good idea," she said.

The young people worked with older volunteers who shared their knowledge of painting and decorating, applying a mixed scheme of soft yellow and sunshine yellow to the walls of the 12m x 8m space.

"Working with Norwich City Council we found a community centre that would benefit most from some attention and TLC," said Janette.

"Lakenham has quite a poor record of community involvement so it was good to work on a project here that would help encourage this."

Emma Penfold is the community development officer with Norwich City Council.

Valuable role

"The role of the community centre is changing. People are living busier lives so the centre is less of a hub in the community in its traditional sense, but they still play a valuable role in providing a facility and a local venue for community groups," she said.

"The Jubilee Community Centre is run by a small group of volunteers – they do everything here.

"As the centre is being used more and more, especially since the closure of the Lakenham Sports And Leisure Club, it was time to give it a facelift.

UEA students pitched in to help

"It was looking a bit tired, so we wanted to make it a more attractive space for people to enjoy," she added.

The Jazz Up The Jubilee make-over is one of many schemes to have taken place over the past nine months.

The projects have encouraged more than 150 young people in the Norwich area to try volunteering in their community.

"This project is about volunteers, helping volunteers. For many of the people taking part today it's their first experience of volunteering and they're finding out that it's a lot of fun," said Emma Penfold.

"They can really see the difference they're making and because they've had a good experience we hope they'll continue to play an active role in their local community in the future."

Hundreds of people from the Lakenham area of Norwich use the Jubilee Community Centre every week, with events ranging from yoga to dog training, computer lessons and toddler groups.

To find out more about becoming a community centre volunteer contact Norwich City Council on 01603 212212.