Hannah Chowdhry and friend dancing at a 2020 celebration at the BACA Teenage Chill Out Lounge.
Our teenage chill-out lounge is gaining popularity and at the last event on 14th January 2020, over 20 teenagers enjoyed some fun and frolics in a supervised surrounding. Our small hall has disco lights, a music box and even a new slush puppy machine which means revellers come to a place with an ambience of fun.
Juliet Chowdhry, supervises the event with her daughter Hannah Chowdhry, who thought up the project and brought it to fruition. Current visitors come from a range of diversities and we are seeing an increasing level of camaraderie amongst the regular youth who attend.
Young people who attended our News Years Eve family party asked for a separate event for them at the chill-out lounge so that they could celebrate the start of a new decade together. They wanted more contemporary music and activities they related to; such as a Karaoke. Juliet has told our team that she is still suffering from earache after being subjected to some less skilled singing by young people trying too hard. The young people enjoyed it however and many were involved in the planning for the event.
The new bonds of friendship are only a small facet of what is gained by the centre and already we have invited local police from the area to talk about their work, how to stay safe from knife crime and discussion on other local policing matters (click here).
We are hoping to invite Simon Standen a local outreach officer from High Road Baptist Church to our next event to promote ‘good relationships’.
We have had to reduce our event schedule to once a month due to a lack of volunteers but hope to increase the frequency with the help of some of our supporters. If you feel you can provide us with some volunteer hours and live close to Ilford then please do get in contact.
