Celebrating Diversity in our Community

7th November, 2011

Five Lamps’ Youth Services have been working closely with members of Thornaby’s Muslim community to deliver a new youth club for young Muslims.

Members of the Muslim community approached Five Lamps as they wanted a base for young Muslim boys aged 11 – 18 years to hang out. The community realised that Five Lamps’ purpose built youth facility, The Youthy on Thornaby Road was the ideal venue. 

Five Lamps worked closely with the community to organise an open event on Sunday 2 October 2011. The open event was a huge success, with over 112 people attending, 45 of which were young people. Introductory speeches were followed by delicious food donated by the families of those who attended.

Irfan Mahfooz said “Hopefully this is the beginning of a great project to integrate all of the cultures we have in Thornaby. It was fantastic to see a lot of support from the parents and the community for the launch day. Our mission is to help guide the energy of the youth in a positive and constructive manner”. 

The young people had an opportunity to use our facilities, allowing time for the Youth Workers to get to know them and discuss ideas for the Youthy. It was a great opportunity to speak to the family as a whole and to answer any queries. During the event, Five Lamps’ staff consulted with both the young people and the adults to determine exactly what was needed for the young people.

The feedback from the event was fantastic. The families were extremely positive and delighted that Five Lamps can offer this service for their children. There is a great keenness to promote positive messages to the young people, encourage them to be active, respectful member of the community and help them develop into confident and considerate adults.

Shazad Khalid said “I really enjoyed the whole community coming together at the Youthy and supporting the ideas of helping the youth to become more focussed and encouraging them to have fun in a safe environment. The youth and community volunteers were outstanding and it couldn’t have been set up better without their help. We were expecting numbers of around 70 to 80, however we were amazed to have 110 people come through the door and show their support. This is one of many teachings of Islam that is for the community to come together and work for a better future by encouraging the children at an earlier age.'

Working with the local Muslim community has given Five Lamps staff more insight into the Islamic faith and the guidelines by which they live.

The first official Muslim youth club session started on Sunday 9 October 2011. The youth club is open after prayer time at Thornaby Mosque and is flexible with the hours to accommodate for daylight saving, when prayer time also alters.

The families are very keen for Five Lamps to now initiate a group for the young girls and discussions are underway to make this happen.

Yusuf Deen said “I really enjoyed the first day of the youth club, having the chance to work with and help the local community was really good. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves that was the main thing. I thought the team from the Youthy are top drawer and look forward to more in the future”.

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