Bridport Youth Club has opened its doors to the young people of the town for the first time this year.

Wednesday (April 21) saw the first get-together since the regular meetings of the club were forced to stop due to the Covid restrictions at the start of January.

"This was very successful evening," said Heather Marston, the youth development worker, "twenty-three turned up to enjoy a sports session downstairs - including dodge ball which they love - and a craft and art session upstairs – plus the ever popular tuck shop."

Current restrictions mean that numbers will be limited to 30 a session, but there is no longer a need to prebook, just turn up.

In the short term the club will be limited to two sessions per week, Junior Club on Wednesday 5.30pm – 7pm, Senior Club on Friday 7pm – 9pm, but in the long term the aim is to return to three sessions per week.

There are also plans for the club to go out into the community through a developing outreach programme. However, to do this the club desperately needs either more hourly paid youth workers or more volunteers.

Kelvin Clayton, chairman of Bridport Youth & Community Centre, said: "I appeal to anyone with youth work experience, or anyone who would like to work with young people who has the time to spare, to contact Heather and discuss how they could help us develop our youth work programme. This is a great opportunity to develop valuable skills and gain recognised qualifications."

Anyone interested in becoming a youth worker should contact Heather at [email protected].