YOUNGSTERS refurbished Worcester City Youth Centre and gained skills for life.

The teenagers, who have left school but are not sure what to do next, spent two days painting, decorating, cooking and generally sprucing up the centre in City Walls Road, Worcester, as part of their Entry to Employment (e2e) course.

The 16 to 18-year-olds, who all attend Worcester’s Youth Development Centre, St Nicholas Street, are on the course to work towards apprenticeships, further education or full-time employment.

Project organiser Tim Gilbert, deputy manager of the development centre, said: “This kind of project teaches them new skills and it looks good on the CV.

“I’m really very pleased with how it has gone.

“They’ve all worked really hard and I’m proud of them.”

Among the tasks carried out by the team was painting a mural in the garden, decorating an upstairs room, building a barbecue and making plant pots out of old tyres.

Seventeen-year-olds Valene Bird, of Dines Green, Worcester, and Lisa Buxton, of Malvern, were given the task of feeding the 25 hungry teenage volunteers.

“We did everything from scratch,” said Valene. “We wrote a list of everything that we needed, then we went out by ourselves and bought it all.

“I hadn’t really cooked before, so I’ve learnt some new skills.”

For more information about the Youth Development Centre, or how to enrol on an Entry to Employment course, visit ydcuk.co.uk or call 01905 726031.