A donation of £5,000 has will mean a new youth worker can join Bridport Youth and Community Centre (BYCC).

Bridport Round Table has agreed to support BYCC for the next two years and to donate £2,500 each year to fund a youth worker.

Kelvin Clayton, chairman of the Bridport Youth and Community Centre Trust, expressed his grateful thanks to the group.

He said: “We want to thank you most heartily for your wonderfully generous donation to our youth work, for both this year and next. It enables us to accept even more young people into our youth clubs, knowing there will be another trained staff member to support the leader in the varied activities.

“Our main priority, youth work, is growing all the time. Over 186 youngsters are now registered in the Swifts, the junior section, and nearly 128 young people come to Xtreme for the older ones. The activities offered are fun and imaginative, from music sessions in the studio to arts and crafts with wonderful creative youth leaders.

“The centre is expanding - last summer we ran a project which offered free lunches to youngsters who attended, learning to cook and enjoying the fruits of their labours. The youngsters also grow flowers and vegetables in our planters.”

Th youth centre is run by a board of trustees. The treasurer said: “As the centre is no longer funded by Dorset Council, fundraising has become an essential part maintaining our range of activities to the town. Contributions like the Round Table’s are central to our being able to continue.”

The centre’s manager, Katrina Polanska, spoke of the range of bookings in the centre every week.

“The sports hall is now used by people of all ages, aerial work on skills, walking football, table tennis for the over 50s, messy art for toddlers, and parent and toddler playgroup to name just a few,” she said. “Mental health clubs and classes are a regular feature now, as well as the traditional use of the centre for weekly boxing sessions and the Bridport Bandits who work on motorcars.”

Ewan Steele, chairman of Bridport Round Table presented the cheque to Kelvin Clayton at a Swifts club night. He said: “This is precisely the type of community-based group that we want to support, we are hugely impressed by the amazing facility and opportunities provided for the youth of Bridport.”

A hearty cheer from members of Swifts showed they agreed.