New youth club The Gaff! at Transition Town Forres offers young people a safe place to have fun on Saturday evenings

A new youth club has started in Forres for young people to meet-up, socialise and build relationships.

The Gaff! offers a safe and friendly space at Transition Town Forres (TTF) on Bogton Road, for P7-S6 pupils from the Forres Associated Schools Group looking for a fun place to hang-out from 7-10pm on Saturday evenings.

The project is being led by local volunteers Reverend Stuart Finlayson, Forres Academy guidance teacher Sian Finlayson, Moray Council money advice manager Norma Matheson and TTF volunteer Kelly Warren.

Rev Finlayson chairs the youth project committee that appealed for funding to start the project.

He said: “Young people want a place where they can be themselves. Such a project must be sustainable and be like a home from home.

“Moray Council identified Forres as a priority for a youth space in April so local volunteers called a meeting to gauge interest. There was a strong response to give it a try so, with young people’s input, an application was made for funding via the Participation Budgeting process.

“Following a presentation to youth representatives from Forres Academy to decide which project would receive funding, they voted The Gaff! be awarded £40,000.”

TTF on Bogton Road is hosting the pilot project until March 31 while a dedicated space is sought.

Forres Area Youth Zone (FAYZ), upstairs at Forres House Community Centre, provided entertainment on three evenings-a-week for different age groups from 2015 to 2018.

However, Moray Council shut it down as the attendance dwindled and the space is now used by council employees who formerly worked at Auchernack before it was closed by the local authority.

“We hope to find a similarly central space,” said Rev Finlayson.

“Somewhere that has multiple rooms so we can provide different activities at the same time. We also hope to provide soft furnished areas as well as desks and things more suitable to working/learning from. And a place to prepare and serve refreshments like FAYZ.”

A variety of traditional activities are currently available at TTF, including board and card games, gaming, sharing music, streaming, browsing the internet - with food and drinks provided too.

“We have everything from Monopoly to Scrabble, Pictionary to Yahtzee so there is something for everyone,” said Rev Finlayson. “UNO is a real favourite already!

“We’ve budgeted for games consoles, laptops and other tech which we’ll purchase soon. We’ve been asking attendees what they’d like so, working with them, we’ll provide a suitable selection.”

The opening night on August 12 made use of the pizza oven at TTF.

However, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, crisps, fruit, biscuits are always available with a selection of snacks for those with particular dietary requirements.

To ensure safety, there must be one adult volunteer for every 10 young people and one youth leader on site. The management committee currently consists of four people but is looking to recruit another two.

“We’re looking to gather a pool of people,” said Rev Finlayson.

“We hope volunteers come forward to express an interest in doing basic youth work training to support sessional youth work staff provided by Moray Council.

“If we can train our own youth workers then The Gaff! has a much better chance of succeeding long term.

“All volunteers will go through a safeguarding check and be provided with documents such as a code of conduct, health and safety information, etc.

“This could be a step into youth work for people interested in it, as well as a great opportunity to do more in our community and for our young people.”

For more information, email thegaff.forres.23@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page.