We are a local youth drop-in, open every day after school during term time. The Bell tower is open from 3pm to 5:30pm and is free of charge to all young people of secondary school age. Young people can engage in a wide range of activities while attending in a safe environment. 

The Bell Tower was launched in 2014 with the vision of creating a safe place for young people, after extensive reasearch carried out in local schools showed a lack in daily after school youth provision since previous government funded youth centres had to close due to cutbacks to the statutory youth services. In 2019 the project won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (The MBE for voluntary groups.)
 
Many of the young people we work with on a regular basis have complicated backgrounds and alongside the drop-in, we run a number of sub projects to meet these more specific needs that we identify in the drop-in environment. 
 
The first is the Young Leaders Programme, which has been running since 2016, where those who regularly attend have an opportunity to grow in leadership skills, confidence, reliability and capability by joining the volunteer team for one session per week and support the session leaders by completing a number of tasks and responsibilities during their shift which lasts the whole session. Each young leader can earn rewards and prizes for their achievements and there are usually ten young leaders on the programme each year.
 
The second is Life Group. Life Group runs on a Monday evening after the session and aims to create a safe space for young people to engage in relevant issues such as mental health, relational peer pressure, bullying, future life development and much more. The evening begins by cooking and eating together replicating a family environment that many are not fortunate enough to encounter at home, with focused group games and activities that help to direct intentional discussion.
 
We maintain close relationships with local schools and provide support by way of one to one mentoring, lunchtime drop-in clubs, and assemblies.

The project is funded entirely by grant giving trusts and individual donations and functions through a large team of local volunteers from across the community.

For more information please see:  
www.belltowerchi.uk