SYC History

During the early seventies Alan Ingle, a Londoner who had recently moved to the village, started Stretham youth club in response to the young people of the village having nothing to do in the evenings. With a loan of money and his record player the club run from the Church Hall, very quickly running 2 nights a week due to popularity.

Fundraising events were often staged in order to raise funds for equipment. Fundraising activities included putting on discos and bands at the Maltings in Ely. One of the groups who played was the Bay City Rollers who at the time were just breaking through into the charts.

In 1982 a new school was built in the village giving the youth club the opportunity to buy the old infant school. This would solve the problem of not having enough storage space for the youth club equipment, when it was not in use at the Church Hall. The youth Club went into partnership with the local playgroup – who were having the same storage problems, and formed a trust in order to purchase the school.

Over the year the club has run many projects – including trips, film projects, international youth exchanges, residentials, taking part in competitions (winning the national youth team darts competition), sports, running the village Silver Jubilee BBQ etc. Now we are seeing the children, and in some cases grandchildren, of those original members attend projects.

In 1984 Alan Ingle immigrated to Australia. The club was then run by Andrew Rutterford for a few years and since then by Janet Parish.

In recent years the playgroup moved to premises within the local school leaving the youth club to become a youth centre with dedicated use for children and young people.

In 2014 after an intensive fund raising effort the building is now refurbished and ready for a future of developing and running projects for the children and young people of Stretham and surrounding villages.

In 2019 we will be celebrating 40 years of being in the Youth Centre,