Paddocks Community Centre

We’ve recently been supporting The Paddocks Community Centre on Canvey Island. Working with Castle Point Council through theUK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), we’ve been helping them finish off the £2.3million renovations to this much-loved community centre. At the same time, we’ve been supporting local young people, those who are NEET or at risk of becoming so, to engage in the VIY skills experience and earn hands-on work experience in painting and decorating for this valued community space on a major local infrastructure project.

Our work/approach has been so successful, Castle Point Council have since provided further funding for us to complete more works there over at least two more projects, helping to welcome more local young people to play their part in renovating this much-loved space, building vital skills and employability at the same time.

Phase 1, 2 and 3 (2025) – co-funded by the UKSPF by Castle Point Council, with phase 1 co-funded alongside Dulux and Essex Community Foundation

We’ve been helping to complete the wider renovation works by supporting the venue in painting and decorating the wide open public spaces. Our friends at Dulux not only provided funding towards this project, but also gifted their colour services to the venue to build them a colour palette which truly reflected the building and its future ambitions/needs.

33 NEET/at risk young people took part across the three phases of this project, referred from The Children’s Society East, Leaving and Aftercare Team – South Essex and USP College. In total, these young people gained 29 Entry Level 3 City & Guilds accreditations in Painting & Decorating and Health & Safety.

A young person progresses directly from The Paddocks

A few weeks after this first project, we received a request for further support from one of our learners, Riley, referred to VIY as a NEET young person by The Yellow Door Project. He was inspired by the Next Steps Guide we send out post-project to all learner, which includes further resources to explore the trade & construction industry. 

They told us that the project had given them exactly what they’d been searching for: real-world experience in a field they were passionate about. Despite having a strong interest in Painting & Decorating, they’d never had the chance to gain hands-on experience, until now. With the support and mentorship of skilled tradespeople on-site, they began to build the foundational skills and confidence they needed.

Motivated and energised by their time on the project, Riley took the initiative to explore opportunities in their local area, and we’re proud to share that they’ve now secured a full-time position with a tradesperson in Canvey Island. They’re absolutely thrilled about this next chapter, and we couldn’t be happier for them.

Phase 4

We’re also now looking at proposals to support the development of a larger industrial kitchen renovation at the centre too.

Parklands Leisure Centre

Parkside Middle School

Parkside School

Pedro Youth Club

Pegasus Academy

Pembroke House

Pembroke House works in support of social action and residential community in Walworth, South London. They run several community engagement programmes covering activities and themes such as music and arts, health and wellbeing, and education and learning.

In early 2019, the charity was set to take on an old church hall – All Saints Hall – to be repurposed as ‘Walworth’s Living Room’, a new community centre intended to be a focal point for the local area. However, the hall had been empty for a long period of time, and needed extensive renovation work to make it safe and fit for purpose, so Pembroke House applied to VIY for help via the GLA’s Good Growth Fund to enable a first stage refurbishment of the main hall.

VIY proceeded to undertake several phases of work at All Saints Hall, covering a complete strip out, including a previously installed hung ceiling, refurbishing three washrooms and installing a new disabled WC, redecorating the main hall and side hall, and sanding and lacquering the original parquet floor. These works involved 86 young people from the local area, including referrals from South Thames College and a local secondary school. The majority of young volunteers, however, were not in education, employment or training and 29 successfully gained a City & Guilds Entry Level 3 construction trade skills qualification through their participation.

The building was totally transformed by the project with Mike Wilson, CEO at Pembroke House, commenting: “The young people and VIY mentors have transformed All Saints Hall from a dark and dilapidated old church hall into a characterful community space filled with light. We can’t wait to show off the young people’s work as we open the doors to the wider community – and having young people from the local community help to restore the venue has been central to the project.”

Penair School

Pendle Community High School

Pennine View School

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