Margate Sea and Royal Marine Cadets has been awarded a Youth Investment Fund Refurbishment Grant of £120,884 to renovate its youth service offer to young people across Thanet and all surrounding areas.
Youngsters supported by the Sea Cadet Corp will benefit from the funding with Margate Cadets able to support even more young people when the project is complete.
The project will refurbish much of the existing timber ‘hut’ constructed as a temporary Unit around 1965, bringing it up to current building standards and enabling it to be safely used for another decade.
Margate Cadets is one of 140 youth projects in England to benefit from a Youth Investment Fund grant, announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the charity Social Investment Business, which is delivering the grant programme in partnership with Key Fund, National Youth Agency and Resonance.
The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, aims to build, renovate, or extend youth services in the parts of the country where new spaces and opportunities are most needed.
Margate cadets grant is made up of a maximum of £104,782.00 capital funding and £16,102.00 revenue funding (dependent on final costs).
This will be used to renovate and enhance the Cadet Unit and extend the unit’s offer to young people. It means work can start on site within a few weeks.
The renovation will improve the kitchen/galley area to allow on-site catering and there will be additional Cadet toilet/shower areas, which will allow sleepovers, either for training purposes or so the Cadets can make early starts for trips.
Two of the classrooms will also be refurbished, the electrics will be brought up to current environmental standards with new lighting units and heaters inside and refurbished mast lights outside for use on parade nights. Sections of the building fabric will be weather-proofed.
The Cadets are looking forward to the refurbished premises and are particularly excited about the new catering facilities, Unit sleepovers and floodlit grounds.
Welcoming the Youth Investment Fund grant, Kate Hart, the Chair of the Unit Management Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to improve the Cadet Unit’s facilities for the benefit of local young people for another generation. We would also like to thank everyone that has helped us get to this stage, including Thanet District Council, Sir Roger Gale MP, and the contractors that quoted for this work and gave us advice.”
Cadet First Class Gemini Goddard-Masters added: “I am really looking forward to having a new galley and mess deck. I hope that with the changes we’ll be able to all sit in the mess and play games.
“I’m also looking forward to having new classrooms because they may feel more comfortable to sit in and learn, same for the parade ground. Hopefully we’ll be able to learn drill with more space. So I’m really looking forward to these changes for the Unit.”
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “I want to see every young person have someone to talk to, something to do, and somewhere to go outside of the classroom, no matter where they are from, to help maximise their potential in life.
“This next round of funding from the Youth Investment Fund will help nearly 20,000 more young people achieve this goal.”
Nick Temple, CEO for Social Investment Business, that leads the delivery partnership added: “The Youth Investment Fund is transforming the youth service landscape right across the country, enabling youth centres of all shapes and sizes to enhance their services and reach more young people.”