MYDG History

90 Years! an' all that

90 years of youth work in Muirhouse! Muirhouse hasn’t been around that long you might say!  90 represents the combined years that young people and local activists have been working to provide youth clubs, sports clubs, support groups, weekends away, outings….the list goes on.  The ninety is made up of 30 years of youth work in St Paul’s, 20 years of the Don Bosco, 15 years of the Klub, 15 of The Junction and 10 years of Muirhouse Youth Development Group which is the umbrella organisation administering these groups. We are proud of this history and to be part of the many groups which  contribute to youth work in the area such as Boys and Girls Brigades, Scouts and other church and community centre based groups. We're certainly celebrating this in 2007-8!

Youth work by its very nature is voluntary - young people take part because they want to.  As a result of not being forced to attend, young people are open to learning new things about themselves and they learn new skills which help them at school or in the workplace.  The youth group is also be a simple oasis to get some space in a supportive environment with peers and trained youth workers.  Today over 200 young people aged 12 and upwards are members of youth groups facilitated by MYDG alone, not counting the contribution made by other community groups to youth work.

Youth work does not happen without the commitment of local activists who share a common goal that young people should not only feel valued but that they should know that they are valued for who they are.  Hundreds of you have volunteered in youth work over the years.  You have been leaders, facilitators, committee members, neighbours, role models, shoulders to cry on, listeners, funders, parents and grandparents!  There must be a whole range of youth work stories both happy and sad to be told in Muirhouse!

If you have been a young person, a volunteer, a parent, a supporter of one of these youth groups and have a story to share, we want to hear it.