The Member of the Senedd for Preseli Pembrokeshire, Paul Davies has seen first-hand the impact of work funded through The National Lottery to support children and young people’s activities in his constituency.
POINT (Fishguard and Goodwick Young Person's Trust Ltd ) run a youth drop-in centre, in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire which provides an exciting and safe place for young people aged 10-25 years old to meet, enjoy activities and access free services. Their aim is to make the transition from childhood to adulthood for young people as seamless and stress free as possible, with youth workers always on hand to offer advice, guidance and just to simply be there for the young people to talk to. With the support of The National Lottery Community Fund, they have been able to run numerous activities including their ‘Nurturing the Future’ project, in which they received a £434,318 grant to develop a range of activities and services to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people in and around Fishguard and Goodwick. The project also delivers counselling, volunteer mentoring, wellbeing activities, and awareness raising sessions for support workers, parents and carers.
The centre has also benefited from a £4,804 grant to decorate and revamp their centre with new furnishings and an IT station, making it a more welcoming and pleasant space for users, as well as outside groups who hire the space for tutoring. Zoe Davies, POINT General Manager commented “We were very fortunate in receiving this grant from the National Lottery back in 2020 to deliver our grassroots emotional health and wellbeing project, the funding is due to come to an end in August and we are taking the necessary steps to try to secure further funding for this much needed project into the future. Young people tell us they are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic on their emotional health and wellbeing and we need to continue our work. We are so pleased that Paul came to visit our project and demonstrated such an interest and a compassion for our drop in provision for young people in North Pembrokeshire”.
Paul Davies MS commented, “POINT is doing such a wonderful job of supporting young people in North Pembrokeshire and so it’s great to see them supported by the National Lottery. Their ‘Nurturing the Future’ project provides vital support to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people in and around Fishguard and Goodwick and I know that this funding will make a huge difference to people’s lives.”
“I’m very grateful to Zoe and the team for taking the time to show me their facilities and I have no doubt that POINT will continue to go from strength to strength in the future.”
John Rose, Wales Director at The National Lottery Community Fund, said “It’s incredibly rewarding to see the great work that POINT offer in their community. We’re pleased that National Lottery players have enabled the team at POINT to make such a difference in their community.”
