DIY SOS youth club in Beverley recruits 80-year-old volunteer
DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles has hailed the "community spirit" of volunteers in East Yorkshire as hundreds of people joined forces to build a club for homeless young people.The building was finished on Thursday after the team spent eight days transforming a field in Beverley, East Yorkshire, into a new home for the Cherry Tree Youth Club.Among the crew was 80-year-old retired tradesman John Whelan who volunteered on the project for the BBC programme every day.Mr Whelan, from Beverley, said he took part "for the kids - for their future - so that they can learn, enjoy something and be taught new things in life".
Cherry Tree supports around 90 young people a week aged 10 to18 - and for those with special educational needs and disabilities up to the age of 25.The youth club was launched in 2016, but members of the group had been meeting in a gazebo in a park since the pandemic while a permanent home was sought.Mr Whelan's daughter, Angela Oldroyd, urged her father to participate in the community project after his wife said he would have loved to take part if he was younger.Ms Oldroyd said: "He was in the trade for 50 years, he knows his stuff inside and out and what better person to have on site than somebody who knows his stuff?"
'Buzzing'
"He's had a tough year health-wise. We thought it would do him the world of good mentally and physically to get out and do something for the community," she added.Mr Whelan has been sweeping up and helping the joiners. He called the work "good fun". "I'm buzzing just watching it all happen," he said.
The single-storey building featured a communal area, a kitchen, meeting room, storage area and toilets. There was also an outdoor gym and a cycle path. DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles said people came from as far as Scotland, Devon and London and "pulled off a miracle"."To be able to build out of the ground with no services in eight days to provide a place for the youngsters around here and let the people who run this amazing place and carry out the amazing work - they're the people that did it," he added."People in the area should be really proud of the community spirit that's alive and well."
Gabrielle Blackman, an interior designer who also presents the show, described the project as a "superhuman effort" from "incredibly talented people who really care"."I've been crying for about an hour, I'm so thrilled. Everyone is amazing," she said."They've all made friends, people have been given jobs. It's an explosion of good stuff."DIY SOS is due to broadcast the story later this year.
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