Harbour Mural with Thurso's Young People
Have you been down to Thurso Harbour over the weekend?
If you have been then you might have seen a rather large group of younger humans being highly industrious complete with white suits on creating the most wonderful mural on the side of the Thurso Harbour Toilets. Thurso Youth Club and Thurso Sea Cadets assisted by Youth Highland have created a wonderful coastal themed art work for us. Designed and developed by Thurso Youth Club we could not be more grateful for what the young people have created for us.
The mural is part of the legacy of the Discover Thurso Festival, it was important to us that we do have a legacy so this along with redeveloping our Discover Thurso website and filming that is being done throughout will create a snap shot of how vibrant our Thurso community is which we can use to promote the town. Central to this legacy is having this mural at Thurso Harbour which was designed and completed by our young people, showing pride in our coastal landscape.
We’re delighted that we have been able to work with Thurso Youth Club and Thurso Sea Cadets with the assistance of Youth Highland. To any of you who don’t know, just a couple of years ago with falling attendance and a withdrawal of funding from the Local Authority, Thurso Youth Club was seriously close to closure. But recognising there was a real gap in the town for youth work the Committee of Thurso Youth Club with the assistance of Youth Highland set about changing all of that around.
Until very recently moving to our town centre location we’ve been able to see that amazing work that the Youth Club have been doing in person over the past two years. The numbers of young people attending has grown and grown, from first younger children being attracted in to now a very thriving Senior Club. A Youth Cafe held every week sees tonnes of kids coming in from the High School to enjoy the Club, get lunches and when we were in our old office dramatically reduce the bandwidth of the broadband! But we never minded as it was amazing to see the Club so thriving and busy with young people.
Even through a global pandemic and the lockdowns the work with young people in the Thurso Community didn’t stop for Thurso Youth Club, with virtual meetups, door step drop offs of crafts, sweets and other goodies to our young people by the Youth Leaders. Added to the well documented support that they were able to offer to us in delivering Community Support. The Club is now undergoing a refurbishment, firstly of the kitchen space but with more to follow and is throwing its doors open to even more young people in the community.
Youth Highland use the hashtag #youthworkchangeslives and this could not be closer to the truth. In a time where young people in our community come under immense pressure daily from social media, pressures of studying and just life with also a global pandemic thrown in for good measure, the work of the Youth Club is even more important. For a young person who might be struggling and doesn’t want to talk to anyone else the friendly ear of a Youth Worker is so important. What we witnessed on Saturday in all its glory was older young people, all High School age - the age who are usually more akin to receiving blame in the community for vandalism or such like - pulling together, working as a team and creating a legacy for not just themselves but for all of the community. Taking a grey old, unloved toilet block on the grey unloved area that you all tell us Thurso Harbour is and turning it into something special for all of us.
We could not be more grateful for the work they have done, thank you so much to Thurso Youth Club, Youth Highland and Thurso Sea Cadets. Now go visit, get your picture taken next to it and don’t forget to tag us in your social media posts so we can share it on!