Young couple campaigning to get better access to activities for Llandrindod Wells youth

A couple from Llandrindod Wells want to keep young people away from drink and drugs by providing better access to activities in the area.

Fixers Matthew Mills, 25, and his fiancé Hannah Evans, 22, say the lack of adequate facilities for young people in their town is leading to drink and drug problems as well as anti-social behaviour.

“Drink and drugs tarnish pretty much everything to do with young people’s activities in this town,” says Matthew.

“The main thing for young people to do is either have a drink or take drugs.

“If there were more facilities and more ways to get entertainment, there would be less temptation to do alcohol and drugs at a young age”

Working with Fixers, a charity which supports young people to ‘fix the future’, the couple are lobbying their local council to improve transport in the area to allow young people to access other nearby towns where there are more leisure activities.

“Llandrindod Wells is a lovely town, and is very beautiful, but it’s very much elderly and retired people,” says Hannah.

“We had a local pool hall where you could go and have a game with friends and it was a really good place.

“But unfortunately we had incidents with drugs there and it ended up being raided and now it’s all closed down

“We are hoping to connect Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells together. They have a local cinema there, but we don’t have the transport links to get back after you have been to see something.

“I feel let down by people in power because they should be doing something about it. It shouldn’t take us to do something like this in order for them to see that things need to be done.”

Matthew and Hannah spoke to Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire about the plausibility of creating a transport link.

“The Fixers have come forward with a really good idea,” he says.

“If they can guarantee that a certain number of young people would support it, I would be going out there looking for funding for them.”

Fixers is charity which supports young people across the UK to take action and change things for the better, addressing any issue they feel strongly about.

How each Fixer tackles their chosen issue is up to them – as long as they benefit someone else.

The award-winning Fixers project has already supported over 8,700 young people to have an authentic voice in their community.

Each Fixer is supported to create the resources they need - such as films, websites or print work - to make their chosen project a success.

Now, thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers aims to work with a further 19,000 young people over the next three years.

“Fixers started in 2008 as just an idea… an idea given a voice by over 8,700 young people over the past five years,” says Margo Horsley, Fixers Chief Executive.

“They have reached thousands of people with their work, on a national stage as well as in and around where they live. They choose the full array of social and health issues facing society today and set about making their mark. Fixers are always courageous and their ideas can be challenging and life-changing, not just for themselves.”

Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund UK Chair, said: “The Big Lottery Fund is extremely happy to be supporting Fixers to engage with more young people to change things for the better. Thousands of public-spirited young people across the UK are campaigning to make improvements in their own communities. By providing a platform to highlight their voluntary work and many achievements, Fixers demonstrates the positive contribution thousands of committed young people are making at a local level and challenges negative stereotypes.”

For images, interviews or more information, please contact Sue Meaden in the Fixers Communications Team by email sue@fixers.org.uk or phone 01962 810970.

There are lots more stories about young people doing great things on the Fixers website, Twitter and Facebook pages:
http://www.fixers.org.uk
http://www.twitter.com/FixersUK
http://www.facebook.com/FixersUK

Notes to editors:

• Fixers started in England in 2008. Now with a £7.2 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers is extending into Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. To date, over 8,400 young people across the UK have become Fixers and created 900 projects.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.