A THREATENED youth club for teenagers in Baildon has been saved thanks to guaranteed funding for the next year from the town council.

The twice-a-week club for ten to 13-year-olds at Baildon Community Link was due to run out of cash at the end of this month following a series of cuts in support by Bradford Council.

But after an anxious wait, Baildon Town Council has stepped in and on Monday night agreed to contribute £10,000 towards the cost of the two trained youth workers who run the club for some 20 children.

The total cost was £13,700, but Link manager Lucy Maddison said they could now seek alternative funding to make up the shortfall.

"It's a great relief as we've got two very good workers in post and now they can continue to make a difference to young people's lives - and it also means continuation for the young people involved.

"We're really pleased and grateful the town council has supported us and we are keen to work with them more closely on new projects in the future.

"Our youth club will also be able to do new drop-in session and also extra things like inter-generational work with our groups for older people.

"We also have a team of excellent volunteers who will continue working with our professional staff," Miss Maddison said.

She added that a lot of their work was with disaffected young people who would otherwise be unsupervised and that the Link often brought in other agencies, such as the police and council wardens, who could help give positive role models and reduce anti-social behaviour in the Cliffe Avenue area and beyond.

David Reed, chairman of the Link's trustees, said this was also a chance to extend a welcome to other youngsters in the nearby area.

"It is an absolute relief for us and the kids who can now confidently carry on with their projects on Monday and Tuesday nights."

Baildon Town Council chairman Councillor Joe Ashton said it was hoped there would be increased co-operation on forthcoming projects.

"We're very pleased to be able to help the Link to continue to provide it's youth club.

"And we are going to use the coming year to evaluate all our youth work across the town council's area, the plan being to improve or co-ordination of services for the future.

"This will mean looking at the financial needs of the Link and coming up with an overall strategy," Councillor Ashton said.

*Baildon Town Council also agreed to continue funding Baildon Youth Council at a cost of £9,748 for the coming year.

It produced an impressive report during the fight to save the town's library and is supported by a worker from Shipley-based community charity Hale.