ANEW youth club designed by young people for young people has been re-launched at a community centre after a much-needed revamp.

The previous youth club at the Lyppard Grange Community Centre in Warndon Villages, Worcester, was closed at the end of the summer holidays after the leader left the centre and the club ran its course.

But now it is back and better than ever with high-tech gadgets and brand new equipment suited to the secondary school pupils at which the club is aimed.

The club, which started running again at the beginning of December, now has a Nintendo Wii games console with games including Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, a new pool table and some music equipment.

Centre manager Mo Walker said: “It’s going really well so far, the young people are loving the new equipment and all the new things that have arrived.

“They were heavily involved in the re-development of the club and they told us what they would prefer so we got equipment they wanted.

“The youth club just needed a makeover. A traditional youth club that would have been around when I was young wouldn’t appeal to young people today, it’s not what they want.

“You have to move with the times and give young people a space that they want to be in and that they know is okay to be in, so that’s what we focused on.”

The club is free to attend as the community centre funds it as one of its many projects.

The centre is a charitable organisation and relies heavily on income. People can hire rooms and this year, there are plans to regularly host an indoor car boot sale.

Although it is primarily aimed at young people from Warndon Villages, Ms Walker said no young people would be turned away if they wanted to attend.

Ms Walker said: “When we set the budget each year, the trustees set aside an amount for activities for young people.

“There isn’t a lot out there for 11 to 16-year-olds so we asked ourselves, ‘Can we do something for them?’ “Traditionally, young people get moved around the place because no one wants big crowds of kids near them, so we’re really happy to have them a couple of nights a week.

“It’s somewhere they can come to socialise with their friends and keep warm for a few hours and have a bit of fun in a space they’re allowed to be in.

“Sometimes they just come in and watch EastEnders or the football, but at least they’re with friends.”

The club also has two new members of staff and a new leader.

Team leader Steve Griffiths already worked with the youth club and is well-known to many of the young people, while his new team includes youth workers Nealey Teague and Nathan Jones.

Since it re-opened at the beginning of the month the club has attracted 10-15 youngsters, but staff would love to see numbers reach 30 to 40 – the peak figure of the previous club. Ms Walker said: “Our main focus is on young people who live in the area, but we wouldn’t turn away any young people who wanted to come in.

“We have a lot of friendship groups coming in from schools.

“Sometimes we’ll have one local person and they’ll bring in five friends who don’t live in the area.

“That’s great as it means there’s more of a chance to socialise and make even more friends in the group.

“That’s what I want it to be like.

The more kids who show up, the more of a success the club is.”

The club runs every Tuesday and Thursday during term time at the Lyppard Grange Community Centre between 6.30pm and 8pm.