Zone Youth Club Pavilion Broadstairs with Victoria

A lovely chat with Victoria Suchak - Manager and founder

https://www.thepavilioncommunitycafe.co.uk

I have been running the Zone Youth Club for over 20 years, first at St Andrew’s Church in Reading Street, then at The Gap, Queens Road Baptist Church, and for the past 9 years at The Pavilion Café in St Peter’s Recreation Ground. I am a qualified Senior Youth Worker, overseeing all the weekly club sessions we run at the café.

The Zone Youth Club first started one cold, snowy night in February 2005 at St Andrew’s Church Hall in Reading Street. 120 children and their parents lined up to join. It was overwhelming, but we enlisted help from friends and family, and the club was born. We had a long waiting list, started a second session, did lots of fundraising, bought lots of new equipment, trained staff, ate lots of sweets and burnt a lot of toast, tried hard not to annoy the neighbours too much, organised some really fun trips out, and made lots of new friends. The children that came through our doors became happier, more confident, learned some new skills, gained new friends, and some stayed on to become junior volunteers.

We moved to The Gap Community Centre in central Broadstairs in 2015 as we needed more space and to be more accessible. But the seed of an idea was growing……club members and staff had always struggled with not having our own space, to do what we want, when we want, to not be reliant on hiring space, having storage for our ever-increasing equipment and resources. So we took a big leap of faith (and some said madness).

In July 2017, we closed the youth club Friday night session for the last time.

During that summer, we took on the huge task of renovating the derelict sports pavilion in St Peter’s Recreation Ground. It had been subject to years of vandalism, rotting wood, a leaking roof, broken doors and windows, and neglect. We spent long days and nights fundraising, applying for grants, persuading funders that we could fulfil our ambition. We signed the lease, took most of the building apart, put it back together again, gathered a very mismatched collection of furniture, and in November, cautiously opened the door to everyone.

We re-started the youth club, but as an after school youth café – three times a week. It was a struggle to decide how to manage the additional ‘members’ that were coming – the parents! But after some gentle persuasion, another grant to allow an all-age session, we now have dedicated sessions for young people aged 5-16. They come straight from school, eat vast quantities of free toast, meet their friends, play, chill, chat with us, and sometimes even learn some new skills.

We have become a very welcoming, friendly and supportive community café as well. It made sense to open in the morning, for light refreshments for the people using the park – dog walkers, joggers, parents after dropping the kids at school, elderly people…..and now we have a lovely baby and toddler family group, a group of “knit and natterers”, occasional art and craft workshops, and lots and lots of chat! We are a focal point for our local community, providing friendship, information, and whatever interesting activities we can think of.