A YOUTH centre has been celebrating the past while looking forward to a bright future.

As reported in the Echo, members of the former management committee at Dorchester Youth Centre have won a bid to continue the operation of the centre in Lubbecke Way.

They have now formed a new trust and applied for charitable status to run the centre.

In May, Dorset County Council’s Cabinet agreed to approve the freehold transfer of the lease to Dorchester Youth and Community Centre Trust and also accepted the business plan for the centre.

Earlier this year, DCC agreed to withdraw funding from the county’s youth centres, instead focussing on a new “proactive targeted youth service”.

A celebration evening was recently held at the centre to celebrate its work over the years and also explain the steps being taken by the trust to continue the operation of the centre.

Dorset County Council will transfer the freehold of the building to the trust with handover scheduled for September 1 with trustees hopeful it will be as seamless as possible.

The trust has also commissioned a full structural survey of the building and engaged with a solicitor to handle the building transfer.

The youth club provides a safe, hospitable, enjoyable and informative venue for young people, operating four nights a week with a special needs group taking place every other Saturday.

The trust hopes that it will be able to continue to operate the centre with youth centre evenings as has been the case in the past and also want so offer facilities for hire to other groups in the future.

The centre has been backed financially by Dorchester Town Council which has pledged 50 percent of operation costs from April 1 this year, capped at £30,000 a year.

From April 2019, the council will meet no more than 33 percent of the costs, capped at £20,000 a year.

DCC has also launched an initiative to use crowd funding to boost funds for places to go and things to do for young people in the county.

Youth centres across the county have applied for leases to be transferred and set up plans to allow them to continue the operation of the centres following the withdrawal of funding.