ACOL youth club opens its door
A new youth club in Huyton was officially opened on Saturday as the culmination of years of work involving a number of Hillsborough families to make a difference in the local community.
The Unity Centre, an initiative of the Apostolic Church next door, is set to provide a secure place for children and young people in the area to congregate, learn and participate in activities in a safe environment.
The building had previously been used as a youth centre but closed down more than a decade ago, until a new project successfully led to the weekend launch of a revamped two-storey site.
With the help of the centre’s pastor, John Hemus, and others, a football squad was formed with the aim of changing young people’s lives – and the current initiative grew from its impact.
Pat O’Neill, whose son Stephen died during the 1989 disaster, said: “We’re all delighted because we’ve waited a long, long time for this.
“The church has been open for over 30 years and it started with just a few ladies with their children. Look how it has grown.
“We have got a pastor who is passionate about building and the youth of today, because in this area we need somewhere for them to go rather than being on the streets and getting into trouble.
“It’s a great legacy [for Stephen] because he was 17 when he died at Hillsborough. He was the oldest child in the church. The centre is called the Maggie O’Neill Centre – Stephen was her grandson.
“If he could only see what has evolved from when we first came here, we just had a cold room. He would be so, so proud.”
Andy Burnham, Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Leigh, was in attendance at the youth centre on Saturday to help with the official opening.
He said: “It’s brilliant and it’s just what every community needs – a place for young people where they can be together outside school.
“The pressures on young people are huge, so it’s great that the church are making this available to people and giving them the space to develop. That’s what they need.
“It’s very hard right now to bring any project like this together, so I pay credit to pastor John, everybody here at the Unity church and Leanne and the other families who have supported it.
“It’s a big effort to make anything like this come to fruition but they have managed it. The beneficiaries will be the community and young people in Huyton, so it’s a fantastic thing they have done.”