We aim to provide a welcoming and safe environment for ‘your’ needs.

Come along and accessthe following at Aldridge Manor House:

We offer a wide range of support including; one to one counselling, a confidential health drop-in and holistic health therapy sessions.

" Walsall Youth Service works with young people to enable them to achieve their full potential, enjoy new experiences and challenges, and participate in improving their lives. Following the community associations handover of the facility, Walsall Youth Service plans to develop Aldridge Manor House as a centre of excellence for the young people of Aldridge."

The Manor House is a 3 storey, 30 roomed Victorian House, which was fully refurbished between March and July 2007 ( some more repairs are still ongoing) to provide excellent facilities for young people. This will include a range of equipment, a sports hall, floodlit sports court, computer facilities and several rooms adaptable for a variety of activities

Mr Dusan Popratnjak, Chairman Aldridge Residents Association, is writing a book about Aldridge Manor House and would be very pleased to hear about you memories and stories to be included in the book and very interested in any old photographs.

You may contact Dusan by phone on 07790 446670 or by letter.

Mr Dusan Popratnjak
Mitype,
106, Whetstone Lane,
Aldridge,
Walsall,
West Midlands
WS9 OEU.

You may also send information to Alan at Aldridge website by using the contact link at the top of this page.

Some additional background information, since being taken over by Walsall Council Youth Services, listed below in chronological order.

On the 24th October 2007, Aldridge "Rant, Rave & React Event Day" was held at Aldridge Manor House, Little Aston Road, Aldridge, Walsall. WS9 8NJ

The Aldridge South LNP in conjunction with Community Empowerment Network (CEN) and Walsall Youth Services organised exciting events for people aged 8 and over to enable issues to be raised specifically to the area in which the young people live. The event was designed to enable young people in the area to express their views on the current services and activities available to them and to help service providers identify gaps.

The focus of the day was two fold:

1. The consultation was deigned to find out:

2. The showcase allowed service providers from the public, private and community/voluntary sector to promote their facility and programme of activities.

Overall the event provided a fun and interactive activity based day for young people.

The aims of the day were:

22nd feb 2007 Councillor John Rochelle update:

The Aldridge Manor House is to be run by Youth Services replacing the Youth Services CA arrangement.

We had a meeting between Andy Driver Principle Youth Officer, Julie of Youth Services, Maureen Plant representing the Bowling Club, Accountant to the CA of Westgate Paul Wilde Walsall Council Constitutional Services and myself. The meeting was full of promise.

From the CA point of view, firstly it should be known that a short walk away, it is the distance covered by the Parade on Remembrance Sunday, there is both The Aldridge Centre Community Association and the Over 55,s Club.

Users of the Manor House will now have to pay £10 per hour for each group activity. The cost will be far less, eg the staffing costs for the CA was over £1,000 per week plus many other shared costs such as maintenance and power supplies.

Youth Services will oversee this, but gave assurances that present users such as the bowling club which meets 7 times a week for 2 hour sessions will be encouraged to use the facility. There are around 100 members of the bowling club, but smaller groups will be looked at sympathetically by Andy Driver.

The Youth Group will reimburse the CA for recent maintenance costs and purchase the CCTV and other security items which will enable the CA to disengage without any adverse costs remaining.

From the Youth Services point of view, they are committed to provide a gold standard service for our youth. Committed to deliver Government requirements and to open an Internet Café allowed for by the belated but welcome new clause 6 to promote social engagement
A very agreeable outcome.
Yours faithfully
John Rochelle

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Ref: Aldridge Manor House Youth and Community Association

Councillor Barbara Cassidy wrote the following in December 2006.
I am writing with some sadness as the only Labour Party Councillor in the constituency of Aldridge and Brownhills to mark the ending of Aldridge Manor House Youth and Community Association, which is based in Little Aston Road.This facility has, for over 50 years, been well used and has provided adult education classes, a youth club and a meeting place for all manner of community groups.

The building is owned by Walsall council who, without proper consultation, have now told the Community Association that any agreements which existed between the two organisations regarding the building have now ceased and that its usage will now be controlled by the Council's Youth Service.

Of course we all wish to see excellent facilities provided for our young people but we also want to ensure that local people are consulted when any changes are made to existing arrangements within their locality - after all, local people know their area best and should be allowed to decide what is best for their community.

The trustees of Aldridge Manor House CA were working towards a viable option to continue with a local partnership.

However, they are now told that they can hire meeting rooms should they wish to do so at a cost of £10 per hour but, not surprisingly, feel too dispirited to do so.

This appears to make a mockery of Walsall council's much-trumpeted and so-called dedication to forging and maintaining local partnerships in the guise of LNPs.

I also understand that Croft Community Association is about to lose its trustees.

How many other local groups will be allowed to sink whilst paying for the financial mistakes which this Conservative cabinet have made?

In contrast to this, the Labour Party in Walsall have policies in place which will support local neighbourhoods.

We believe that all of our council services should be offered on a transparent and wholly accountable basis to everyone in this borough and not only to those who continue to sit in their ivory towers !

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