Buffalo Community Centre in Blyth receives £37,000 from national fund for renovation works

Buffalo Community Centre, on Regent Street, is one of 140 youth projects in England to benefit from the £90m third tranche of the £300m Youth Investment Fund, which is managed by Social Investment Business.

The centre received £36,839 from the fund, which has been spent on a nearly-complete rewiring of the building to ensure the electrics are safe, install power over Ethernet, and create more electrical outlets.

Eileen Cartie, who runs the centre, said: “It is such a busy little place. What we want people to feel is really comfortable and feel safe and feel at home when they walk through the door.

“If they feel like that they will come back, because it is their building.”

Cowpen Quay Community Association, which manages the centre, has been running for 50 years and won a Queen’s Award in 2011.

The building was a coaching inn before it was converted.

Now it hosts a number of youth clubs and projects, as well as events for the elderly, adults with learning difficulties, and ethnic minority groups.

The centre also opens its doors to local clubs and charities to facilitate the good work of others with young people.

Eileen, also the local councillor, said: “They are our future generation, so we try and encourage them from a young age to be part of the community centre.

“At the end of the day, we are just custodians for a brief moment of time looking after the building.

“They are the future of this building. They are the ones who are going to do our jobs in the future.”

She added: “Youth workers are role models to the next generation, just like my youth worker was a role model to me in the past, and now I have done what they did.”

Eileen hopes the renovation will keep the centre running “for at least another 50 years.”

She said: “All of our workers here, all of our trustees, are all community-minded local people from Blyth. Our heart is in the community, and that is what we pride ourselves on.”

Eileen also praised the Youth Investment Fund, for the help and guidance they were provided with as well as the financial backing.