TAVISTOCK Youth Café has provided a safe space for young people in the area since it opened its doors in 2005.

But with success comes hard work, dedication and constant fundraising from the youth café team — and now one strand of the café’s income has unfortunately been withdrawn.

Since the new Tavistock Youth Café was moved to a modern industrial unit off Pixon Lane, it has gone from strength-to-strength — and one important feature of the move was that students who had been excluded from school, medical or other mental health issues that prevented them from attending school were able to use the café building every day in term time with their tutors.

This provision was successful in terms of the academic results that students achieved and their reintegration into main stream schooling or post 16 education.

But, it was announced recently, that the Academy Trust that funded these students has now run into financial difficulties.

Youth work manager Vicki Lloyd-Walsh, who also works as a mentor for Tavistock College, said: ‘Regrettably the Academy Trust that funded such students has run into severe financial difficulties across its operation and as a result has withdrawn its students and tutors with immediate effect.

‘The South West Schools Academy have been hiring the Youth Cafe since we opened our new building in 2015, therefore their withdrawal has left us with a financial gap that we need to fill.

‘We would like to give people the opportunity of becoming “Friends of Tavistock Youth Cafe”. This could help us with fundraising and support us in events.’

With the café’s rooms now being vacant during term time, the trustees of the youth café want the building to be used by all community groups.

‘We want people to come forward to use the space so that this great facility isn’t empty during the day and can be a community asset,’ added Vicki.

‘Being a charity we do have to ask for money a lot and I know that the community value us, but it is also important that everyone knows how much we need in order to keep the café open.

‘We would love a sponsor to come forward and we hope that people will see it as a good opportunity to get involved.’

The Youth café is just a name for the youth facility it is not a café. It holds a popular Friday night drop-in session, a busy music Zephyr project, a summer programme of visits and trips and the Youth Cafe Plus, a parent run project, where young people with special needs can socialise in a non-threatening environment and their parents and carers can meet, use the facility bi-weekly on a Monday evening.

If anyone would like to help the café with its future endeavours, contact Vicki on [email protected] or 07913695571.