AN organisation which arranges events and activities to keep Ulverston youngsters safe, busy and off the streets opens a drop-in centre this weekend.

Spirit of Youth will have its headquarters in a former bookshop in Boltons Place, where youngsters over 13 can meet, have a game of pool, discuss activities they would like to be part of or to organise events themselves.

A computer is expected to arrive shortly and there are plans to set up a website and produce a newsletter.

The office, which was the brainchild of local parents Lesley Godwin and Maryvonne Dixon, is designed to give youngsters, who currently tend to meet in the street or in shop doorways, somewhere safe and warm to go.

If the project is successful and a need is proven for a facility for a youth project in Ulverston, funding might become available for larger premises from the National Lottery.

"By opening this, we shall be able to monitor what young people want and whether we can provide it," said adult chairman and parent Carole Polkinghorn.

"This can all be recorded and used as evidence for funding."

The office has been rented for a year and young people have been using it since September, painting and decorating it themselves and gaining a Youth Achievement Award in the process.

The group is seeking appropriate volunteers to help man the office until funding becomes available to employ staff.

Following the official opening on Sunday by Mrs Godwin and Mrs Dixon, when young people will be awarded certificates they have gained over the past few months in self-defence, first aid, youth achievement and Millennium volunteers, the office will be open from the beginning of February during Thursday lunchtimes from 11.30am to 1.30pm when anyone, even adults, is welcome to drop by.

A group of youngsters has already hired the space on Sunday mornings to run a Warhammer workshop and the committee holds its meetings in the building on Wednesday evenings.

The next project is to get young people trained as youth leaders.

On February 14, organisers are also holding a disco for nine- to 12-year-olds and one for children aged seven and eight is planned for early March.

"All the kids were getting moved on from parking places and so on, so we came up with somewhere they could really hang out," said Mrs Polkinghorn.

"We really hope that once we are open on a regular basis, kids will come in and tell us what they want and we can work together and realise those aims."

Vicky Dixon, 18, of Ulverston, predicted the new youth HQ would be popular.

"I would have liked it if I was 15 because it will give young people something to do," she said.