Youth Cafe opens for business

IT has taken nearly two years of dealing with red tape and gathering support, but the long-awaited Cove and Kilcreggan youth cafe is finally about to open — with a little help from Brad Pitt.
The cafe is the brainchild of Kilcreggan woman Susie Will who returned home, after living and working in France, to find there was little or no provision for young people in the village.
She identified suitable premises in the former tennis club pavilion and began the process, with the support of the village community council, of negotiating with Argyll and Bute Council for the lease of the decrepit old building.
But now all that is in the past and the youth cafe will open its doors on September 11 at 2pm with a barbecue and refreshments, much of which will have come courtesy of the Brad Pitt film set in Glasgow.
Susie has been working on set and part of the schedule included the “trashing” of a supermarket by the zombies in the movie.
After filming, much of the non-perishables were donated to Susie for the cafe opening.
A team of helpers is being built up and all will be “disclosed” to allow the cafe to open at least two evenings, and possibly part of the weekend, each week.
The cafe will be open to any youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18 and it is planned that a management committee will be set up from among the members to suggest the programme and to help with the fund raising.
A number of local people have already committed £1 per week to support the cafe and grants have been received from the Helensburgh Lions Club, the community council, Dunbritton Housing Association and, most recently, The Sovereign Order of St John.
Susie and fellow committee members Gerry Deery and Samantha Lindley are pictured with the cheque from the Order of St John and the other committee members include Alison Barclay, Christine Borland, Michelle Smith and Sarah-Jane Williams with help from many others.
Because the cafe has taken so long to come to fruition, some of the village youngsters have already got together with Susie’s help for an afternoon out at Centre 81 in Garelochhead and Susie is hoping that such outings could become a regular feature for cafe members.
Susie said: “There really is a need for somewhere for young people to meet on the Peninsula.
“When I was a teenager in Kilcreggan there was youth fellowship, the youth club and the village’s Italian Cafe with its jukebox. Now there is nothing.”
Susie’s father, Dr Alan Will, was a prominent member of the community and his love of helping has rubbed off on Susie, who first made her mark as a community councillor in 1982.
She then started the village school’s PTA with Norman Brammer and Marian Hanley before moving away from the Peninsula for a while.
In 1996 she returned and started the Cove and Kilcreggan Film Society which is still running and chaired by Val Walker.
In 2003 she saw a gap in community life and started an after-school art club at Cove Park which allowed local youngsters to meet and learn from the world class artists spending time at the artists’ retreat.
She also served as a member of the Kilcreggan Primary School board before moving away again to spend some time living and working in France.
“When I came back, “ she said, “I saw a huge need for youth facilities and began the process of setting up the youth cafe.
“It has taken a long time and been a huge amount of work to get to this stage but now we are about to open and it will have been worth it.”