A YOUTH worker's salary and a popular community group are being buoyed by a £16,000 grant.
The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales awarded west Cornwall's 3 Villages Project the sum to help the charity deliver work focusing on the "training, development and employment needs of young people" in Newlyn, Mousehole and Paul.
The funding means the organisation can continue to run on a full-time basis, as government changes had previously threatened to cut the programme by around 50 per cent.
Jen Lawry, who started volunteering in her gap year in 2005 and was given the youth worker position in 2008, said substantial sums of money are hard to come by.
"It has been hard to get core funding – it's particularly difficult for salaries," she said.
"We would have only been able to run part-time. It's meant we've been able to keep it going."
Miss Lawry is supported by a number of volunteers. She added that being able to carry on without too many limitations is vital to local youngsters.
"We have had really good feedback from people. The police said we've contributed to reducing antisocial behaviour and children say that without us they would be getting into trouble," she said.
Initially set up by churches in the area more than ten years ago as a youth club, 3 Villages Project later registered as a charity in 2004.
Activities include art workshops, dance sessions and cookery classes.
Miss Lawry added that Newlyn, Mousehole and Paul are sometimes forgotten areas.
"We work across three communities in Cornwall that contain high incidences of deprivation to make a positive difference to the lives of local children and young people."
