We have launched an appeal asking for crucial donations to help furnish our new Youth and Community Centre in Avenham.
Our new centre, which is due to open in May, will allow us to continue offering the vital youth and community support services that Foxton has been providing to people and the community since the charity was founded in 1969 by Revered Brian Foxton.
The construction is being funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s Youth Investment Fund, but we have no furniture. We estimate that this will cost an additional £65,000.
We’re calling on local businesses and residents to provide support for this through our Furnish Foxton appeal.
Foxton CEO, Jeff Marsh, said: “We welcome the funding from the DCMS, which will create a modern, fit-for-purpose centre that is life changing for young people. However, we are only halfway there and need the kind support of local businesses and people to help furnish the centre, from creating a dance room to blinds for the windows.
“We need equipment and furniture to create a space that is both inspiring and functional, and that fulfils the important needs of today’s local young people, for generations to come.
“Every donation we receive, whether it be through monetary donations or the donation of in-kind services or products, will make a permanent impact on the lives of local young people.”
Foxton’s Youth Forum, which is led by young people, supported the bid to gain funds for the new centre and have been involved throughout the design process, ensuring it meets the needs of local young people.
Rhiannon, 18, who has attended the Youth centre since she was eight, and who is now a member of the Youth Forum, said: “Designing the new centre, it was always a case of ‘what do young people want’ rather than ‘what do we think young people want’.
“It gives local young people the ambition to do more and change more in the world, it sends the message that they are important and that they can achieve more than maybe they thought they could.”
The new centre greatly increases the range of services we can offer, with the flexibility to run multiple group activities at the same time, alongside dedicated quiet and wellbeing spaces.
A larger main hall will be equipped for a range of indoor group activities such as dance classes or community meetings, meanwhile a large, first-floor balcony will provide a safe, enclosed outdoor area for community events, socialising, and relaxation.
To address the problem of digital exclusion in the Avenham area, a digital training hub will be equipped with computers that can be used for accessing online services, developing digital skills and accessing support with things like homework, careers opportunities, housing and more.
There will also be a kitchen with modern facilities where staff, volunteers and young people can come together to prepare fresh meals, a gaming room and wellbeing space as designed by young people, and other functional areas including offices and a reception area.
Businesses and people from the local community can donate funds or products which will be allocated to specific rooms of the new centre.
You can find a full list of the furniture, fittings and equipment required here: https://thefoxton.org/furnish-foxton
If you wish to donate furnishings, fittings, or equipment, please contact the Furnish Foxton team at
01772 289074 or furnishfoxton@thefoxton.org
There is also a Just Giving page for monetary donations towards the appeal. For independent donations toward the Just Giving pot, there is an option to donate through Gift Aid, allowing Foxton to receive an extra 25% on that donation from the government.
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How we’ve helped.
As a volunteer at the Foxton day centre, it opened my eyes to a lot of different aspects of the day to day running of the day centre and the help that was available.
I feel that the Foxton has a massive impact on people’s lives from what I have experienced over the last year and a half since we started delivering the art project in partnership with the Foxton.
The Foxton have been a life saver for me and my partner. They have helped us get back on our feet.
