Julia Lopez had the following to say about her work to support the Friday Night Harold Hill Youth Group:

Russell Mears and Claire Mears have been working with young people in the borough for the last four years, doing over 1,000 hours of youth work and raising £30k worth of activity funding during that time.

They started off running a youth club at St Joseph's in Upminster and have more recently started the Friday Night Youth Club for young people at MyPlace in Harold Hill.

The Club has been a huge success and grown rapidly in popularity. However, it got temporarily suspended by Havering Council because of two separate incidents outside MyPlace involving alcohol and a firework set off in a bin.

I have been working with Russell over the past few years as a supporter of the Club as it has made such a difference to the young people who attend.

Many kids have been able to get incredible experiences they would not otherwise have had access to, like attending a residential adventure course in Wales, and are glad for a safe and supportive place to hang out with friends.

Russell and I caught up last week, and I'm really glad to report that the Club has been told it can reopen, and the Council will now support it with a youth worker. We have also put them in touch with the My Harold Hill project, run by Inspector Charlie Routley, so that more young people can benefit from the social life, safe place and purposeful activities that the Club provides.