A PROJECT aimed at helping youngsters in Burnley has been given the biggest grant in the North West from the BBC appeal Children In Need.

South West Burnley Community Development Trust has developed an innovative project which, if successful, could be used as a blueprint for similar schemes across the county and beyond.

The charity has appointed a youth outreach worker to develop ways of encouraging young people to make knowledgable decisions about their own lives and enable excluded young people to be re-integrated into society.

The project secured £105,321 from last year's TV appeal which is being used to pay the salary and other costs of a worker.

Project officer Chris Keene said: "This money has enabled us to receive matched funding from the Challenge Fund which can then be used to help children from as young as three to 19. "The Children In Need money is going to help us with children aged 11 to 19 - people who have been excluded from school, youngsters who may experience a complex range of emotional or behavioural problems.

"We will be working closely with schools, social services, agencies and the health authority to provide support and help them make informed choices about their future.

"We are not trying to run a youth club in the traditional sense of the word. We want to help young people find out what they want and need."

The trust hopes to open its own building next autumn which will incorporate a vocational training area, small company bases, child care facilities, a community cafe and space for youth and community work and a counselling and advisory service.

The Pakistan Welfare Association also received £12,000 from Children In Need which, along with grants over the last two years, helped to buy books and equipment and information technology training for a homework club for Pakistani girls 10 to 16 who cannot work at home or falling behind with school work.

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