As she approaches retirement, Paula Kanuik can walk away from the job she loves knowing that 20 years of hard work has finally paid off. We spoke to the woman behind Blackburn’s largest homeless charity as it moves into a multi-million pound new base.

LOOKING around Blackburn’s new Nightsafe premises, you can’t help but notice the beaming smile on Paula Kanuik’s face.

The charity’s chief executive is describing the six new bedrooms, kitchen and communal area as ‘a dream come true’ for herself, her colleagues and most importantly — the borough’s homeless.

And although there are no plans for her to leave just yet, the 61-year-old says she is proud that she can retire happily, leaving young homeless people in Blackburn with the best possible facilities.

“I can’t believe that we are here at last it seems like a dream come true.

"The place is just everything that I have wished for and I am really thrilled.

"I just love it,” said Paula, who lives in Rossendale.

Since the charity started in 1990, the mother-of-two has worked with an astonishing 10,000 young people, helping them to get off the streets and to make a difference to their lives.

This week Nightsafe has moved for the first time into a brand new building, based in Railway Road on the site of the former Star and Garter Hotel, later renamed The Boulevard.

Now as a resource centre it offers young homeless 16-24-year-olds a maximum of nine nights emergency accommodation.

And with the new building and extra space, more young people will now have a place to stay.

“When Nightsafe became a charity in 1990, Coun Edna Arnold and I bought a house for just £5,000 and it was falling to pieces,” said Paula, sitting in her office at the £2.3 million centre in Blackburn Boulevard.

“But we managed to pull it together with help from the community and stayed there for as long as we could.

"Now we are just elated. I can’t believe it.

“Working with young people is rewarding and I believe everybody deserves a second chance.

“Nightsafe started with the values to provide ‘somewhere for young people to go, someone for young people to talk to and somewhere to stay’ and we have stuck to that moto ever since,” said Paula, who started working with Lancashire County Council Youth Services in 1985 when she was 35.

Having worked on a series of youth projects across the world in countries such as Africa and Brazil, Paula plans to travel round Europe in a camper van with her husband when she retires in the not too distant future.

But the most rewarding aspect for Paula is seeing the difference that Nightsafe can make to people by giving them a helping hand.

She said: “No matter where you go in the world, all young people want the same in life and have the same aspirations.

"They all want to do well — to have a house, a job, a car and a family.

“And the other day I saw a young man who had done just that.

"He came into the office and said ‘do you remember me?’ and I recognised him straight away.

“He was homeless and a real bad-lad back then, but he came in to Nightsafe to thank me for everything that I had done for him when he was out on the streets.

“He told me that he has a family now and it brought a tear to my eye. That has happened many times before.

"It just feels amazing knowing that sometimes there is a happy ending.”