"Have
you a set of draughts, Mr. Vickers?" "Could I have a pack of
cards, Mr. Vickers?"
"By
the way Mr. Vickers, can I put my name forward for the committee"
Amid
an endless string of questions and requests, I managed to get a question
in myself, writes Chris Hawkesworth.
"Is
it easy," I asked Mr. Peter Vickers, full time leader of the new,
exciting, Kellingley (Knottingley) Youth Club, "to get to know
members as individuals?"
"No
it isn’t," he replied. "For two reasons; the membership is
large and the staff is small. I would hope eventually to know every member
individually. I would like to visit their homes and get to know their
parents in an attempt to know the member in depth."
I
was sitting in Mr. Vickers office in the new youth club which forms a part
of the Kellingley (Knottingley) Social Centre. The building of the club
was financed by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation and was
designed by Poulson’s, the Pontefract firm of Architects.
A
blonde head suddenly appeared through the window to my right "Put the
Troggs on" she said. Her tone was pleading rather than demanding, and
14 year old disc-jockey William Miller, of Warwick Estate, nodded his head
and selected ‘A girl like you’ from a stack of the ‘latest’ piled
next to the record player. The office allowed some degree of
soundproofing, though the noise in the dance area itself was not
unbearable. Mr. Vickers was now my target, I was aiming for the bull’s
eyes, and his replies registered the score.
"My
objectives?" he asked himself, "To integrate the members and to
teach them how to live. To give them facilities for enjoyment both
physical and mental. To give them the opportunity of meeting people of
their own age outside this community, to broaden their interests."
I
saw his words being translated into action as we talked. A mixed group was
gathered round the club notice board, which seemed to contain as many
varieties of activities as Heinz has tinned foods.
Badminton,
table tennis, motor-cycle maintenance, football, drama, hair-styling and
beauty culture, cookery – "You name it and show sufficient interest
and we'll have a bash" was the tacit suggestion to the members.
Dances
once a month with a ‘live’ group make the change from ‘record
requests’ a stimulating experience; you don't have to visualise so much
when the instrumentalists and singers are there in the flesh.
"Misconceptions about modern youth?" My arrow headed for double
top.
"People
label them as modern youth and think that adolescence equals trouble"
said Mr. Vickers. "Many people are not willing to give them a chance
to prove THEMSELVES. These young people are anxious to do things - not
just physical, either; it is the age of curiosity."
I
glanced through the window into the games room. In front of me was an
example of keeness and energy. Jim Thompson aged 15, and David Fletcher,
aged 16, both of Knottingley, both employed at Kellingley Colliery, were
giving the celluloid table tennis ball a bashing.
"They
are also members of the Club’s football team which plays in the
Castleford Sunday League," said Mr. Vickers. "Modern youth is
striving for the re-organising of itself. After leaving school they
encounter a new environment, a new way of living, and they have to learn
all over again. The relationship with their parents is different. Evil is
confused with ignorance, it is a traditional time for making
mistakes."
"We
are going to vote for a Member’s Committee next week." He handed
Susan Lancaster, aged 16, of Womersley Road, Knottingley, a card. She
slipped away to get a proposer and a seconder so that she could be a
canditate.
The
club has excellent premises, A games room. girls powder room, showers and
toilets, boys work room and leaders office- that’s the ground floor.
Walk up a spiral staircase and you discover the long room and refreshment
bar, the activities room, the lounge, the library and the committee. Four
smart young women behind the well-stocked refreshment bar attracted my
attention. I was a stranger to all four, but not for long. Young people
are rarely anti-social; it is foreign to their make-up. "I like
serving behind the counter, you get to know more people," said June
Mather, a pretty 16-year old, of Acacia Walk, Knottingley,
"What
is an average night’s sales?" I asked 15 year old Anne Iveson, of
Vale Crescent, Ferrybridge Road. "About three dozen packets of
crisps, two dozen bottles of pop and loads- we can’t keep count - of
Pepsi and Lemonade."
She
pointed to the first soft drinks on draught I had seen. A large membership
of 385 augers well for Knottingley and district. They don’t all go to
the club every night, of course, but most of the five nights a week it is
open the club has a three-figure attendance dance. Mr. Vickers wife helps
him in the club, and Bill Haggan, a Durham ‘import’ to Kellingley
Colliery, lends valuable assistance. Miss Mary Brittain and Mr. John
Wilbourne are assistant leaders.
"The
club doesn't exist just to keep the young people off the streets,"
said Mr. Vickers. I took his point.
