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History
The History of Silo Central
There had been concern that something needed to be done for the youth of the village. Sadly it was the death of Alan Denham, a local youngster that instigated the beginnings of what we know now as Silo Central.
Alan was killed on a motorbike travelling from Gobowen to Oswestry and a considerable sum of money was donated at his funeral. His mother and father, Gill and Clive decided to donate all of this to the beginnings of a massive fundraising programme to provide recreational services for the youth of the village.
They held a public meeting and a small committee of interested people, including young people who were friends of Alan Denham were formed.
A charitable body was set up which included Ian Woosnam as the patron. Established in June 1991 the aims of the management committee were to provide facilities to meet the needs of young people to relieve boredom by giving access to amenities for education and recreation.
They secured funds to purchase the grain silo behind the old Staffordshire Farmers site in Gobowen. Unfortunately access was restricted and the usefulness of the building was in question. With the agreement of The Tudor Trust, which had given them £10.000 to purchase the land, the site was sold to a local builder who was developing the rest of the site for housing.
With a considerable grant from Advantage West Midlands and the original Tudor Trust money, Brook Buildings was purchased in 1996. John Abram was employed as Centre Coordinator and managed the complete refurbishment of the building to make it workable. Funding for John’s post came from Oswestry Borough Council, from which the project had full backing and Shropshire Community Fund. A National Lottery Grant of £67,000 enabled them to employ a full time youth worker. He worked with a group of volunteers to open the centre three nights a week.
On 4th January 2000 the newly refurbished building was complete and formally opened in May by Ian Woosnams father Harold Woosnam who cut the ribbon.
After two years the full time youth worker, Mick gave notice of his intention to leave his employment with us. It was decided to use the last year of Lottery funding to employ three part time youth workers. This proved to be more successful as there was better cover during the evenings, volunteers being few and far between.
November 2001 saw David Lyte join the workforce as IT Coordinator. We were very lucky to be included in SRB Funding to be able to provide an updated IT centre as well as activities for youth in the evenings. David was employed to staff the centre during the day and offer the excellent IT facilities to the whole community. We secured £20.000 from UK online to completely update the computers and computer room, which is being well used to this day.
Learndirect courses are being run together with courses run by North Shropshire College. There is a meeting room for local voluntary groups during the daytime and some evenings. We offer an equal opportunities policy at the centre for any groups. A drop in café allows the young people to socialise at night and the adult community in the daytime. We want to promote the understanding of different generations through community projects, Arts, IT, Heritage and others.
The Youth programme is a well-established providing a seasonal programme. The youth workers regularly attend updated courses put on by the Shropshire Youth Association and are supported by a community youth worker who helps with the formation of important policies that need to be adhered to when working with young people. We have links with the EAZ to pay us for the use of Silo to put on homework clubs, for the junior and secondary schools. We hope to push forward with Art, drama, music, and newsletter production. Advice on health and welfare issues is always on hand for the young people.
Gobowen is extremely fortunate to have use of the facilities that Silo Central offers and it is the dedication of the Management Committee, Advisors, Staff and Volunteers that has made it the success it is.