The Foxton Centre: Every place needs a youth centre that’s made for and by you  

Since Brian Foxton opened the Foxton Centre in 1969, the charity has been providing a range of youth and community services, support for vulnerable women, rough sleepers and the homeless across Preston.   

Back in the summer of 2023 the Foxton Centre was awarded a Youth Investment Fund grant of £2.4M to build a brand-new youth centre and significantly expand the charity’s services, offering vital support for young people in the city. The new Foxton Youth and Community Centre opened its doors to young people on 20 June 2025.  

The new centre features a double-height main space with mezzanine floor, which will allow Foxton to hold multiple indoor sessions at the same time. In addition, there is a first-floor balcony for outdoor events and gatherings.

Also included in the new centre is a dedicated gaming room and a further first floor space featuring a training room and dance space, which will be used for a wide range of events including dance classes and meetings. There is also a new dedicated open-plan office space for the charity’s staff.

Young people played a key role in winning the grant and co-designing their new youth hub. Rhiannon, a young person who joined the youth club when she was eight, is now a volunteer and part of Foxton’s Youth Forum. Rhiannon is excited about Foxton’s new Youth and Community Centre and is one of many young people who played an important role in securing the funding.  

In this blog, Rhiannon speaks candidly about her personal journey at the Foxton Centre, sharing why places like these are a lifeline to young people, opening doors, offering support and helping young people gain confidence and the skills that they need to thrive. As Rhiannon says,

“Foxton helped me realise that I am my own person, I have the power to pave my own path and that the place I live in doesn’t determine the person that I will be or what I will achieve.”   

All the words below have been written by Rhiannon.

A constant safety net  

After I first joined the youth club aged eight, Foxton became the only consistent thing in my life. Growing up, it has been my one support system and a constant safety net. I knew if there was anyone that wasn’t going to turn me away, it was them.  

It’s like a community family. Even if you don’t use it, everyone in the area knows that if you find yourself in a situation where you need it, you are welcome. No matter the size of the problem, if no one at the centre can help you, they’ll find you someone who can.   

Having that access to speak with youth workers, it was like an informal education. You can talk to them about anything and with their guidance, you’re learning some essential life skills, things that don’t come up on the standard school curriculum.   

Gaining confidence to advocate and speak up 

It was through the support I gained from the youth workers at Foxton that I gained the confidence to speak up and to advocate for myself and make changes to improve my own situation. 

There was a point when I wasn’t going into school very often. I had bigger things going on in my life, I didn’t even have the money to get the bus. Foxton helped me with that, they spoke with the school and sorted me a bus pass. 

I don’t know what life would have looked like for me without Foxton – I think things could have been very different.  

A safe place to study and succeed 

I’d go to homework club at the centre where me and my friends could sit down together and get our work done, and we’d have a laugh together as well.   

When it came to GCSEs it didn’t matter how determined I was, it was impossible to revise at home – it was noisy, and I didn’t have an environment where I could focus. I spoke to Foxton about it, I really wanted to do well. They started reserving me a quiet space in the centre on an evening where I would go and do my revision. They’d prepare me a hot, home-cooked meal too.   

It was down to this support from Foxton that I passed some of my GCSEs. I still come to the centre to study every week with my math’s tutor who is kindly giving her time to help me pass my GCSE – I’ve always struggled with maths, but I’m really determined, having that qualification is going to open so many doors.  

Having someone by my side 

When I was 16, I found myself on my own, living in an unsafe property with my brothers. I was in an emergency situation, and I received very little support from the police and social workers that I’d reached out to.   

It was Foxton that helped me advocate for myself. Having that person by your side makes such a difference, they’d attend meetings with me and gave me the confidence to speak up about my situation. As a result, I was placed in supported accommodation, I’ve been living there for the past two years and having that independence, and a safe home has completely changed my life.    

Foxton’s not just helped me. My dad used their services too, he used to live in their homeless accommodation. When he passed away when I was 16, Foxton stepped in and supported me in navigating some difficult family dynamics. They helped me with arranging his funeral as well, without Foxton he wouldn’t have had one.  

Giving something back: joining Foxton’s Youth Forum  

I started volunteering at Foxton’s youth club when I was 16.  

I want to be that trusted person that Foxton’s youth workers were to me when I was growing up: For people to think “she can help me, she’ll know what to do.”  

It was around then that I joined the newly formed Youth Forum as well, and it’s gone on to become a massive part of my life.   

When there was talk of demolishing the old centre, we started working on the bid for the new build.   

We’d write letters, spend hours researching and googling, budgeting it all, meeting with the funders and presenting our research. We’d come in on evenings and over the weekends, we were so excited by it, it was a lot of hard work and stressful at times, but we felt like we had the chance to really make a difference.   

A ‘pinch-me’ moment: Winning a Youth Investment Fund grant  

It was a pinch-me moment when the funding was granted – our hard work had helped make that happen! It’s given me this sense of self believe and ambition, these are opportunities I would never have had access to without Foxton.   

The Youth Forum, along with young people that use the centre were invited to Architects’ meetings. Designing the new centre, it was always a case of ‘what do young people want’ rather than ‘what do we think young people want’.  

That’s what will make the new centre so valuable to the community: ‘It’s for you, made by you’.   

From seeing the designs to actually walking around the building site, it’s been really rewarding seeing it play out in real time and the plans coming to life – it looks too fancy to be the Foxton centre!  

I have the power to pave my own path  

It gives local young people the ambition to do more and change more in the world, it sends the message that they are important and that they can achieve more than maybe they thought they could.   

That’s my main drive. I want to work towards being successful in changing the lives of other young people in the community. Foxton helped me realise that I am my own person, I have the power to pave my own path and that the place I live in doesn’t determine the person that I will be or what I will achieve.   

It might be harder and take a bit more work, but I can still land in the same place as those people that came from a totally different background. Avenham is a place that needs to hear that a bit more   

Every place needs a youth centre.