09/12/2025
So proud to deliver dj and music sessions at this youth provision. Amazing award. Well done to all involved. especially Sara and Jill. 🎧🔈🎵❤️🎄
WE HAVE SOME NEWS 📰
The Leek Town Centre Youth Project, also known as @21, has won prestigious Royal recognition for the volunteering work it undertakes. The King’s Award for Voluntary Service 2025 is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK, and is equivalent to an MBE.
@21 provides a safe and welcoming drop-in centre for teenagers aged 13-18, to socialise off the streets, and enjoy positive activities, support and advice from trained youth workers. Based on Market Street in the heart of Leek, the project supports young people from across the town and surrounding villages. Although the charity has operated since 1997, it came into its own from 2014, when local authority youth provision ceased; as a result @21 is the sole surviving youth club in the town.
Our activities generally take place on two evenings a week, and positively engage with young people. They take place in our youth centre, located on Market Street in the heart of Leek Town Centre. The activities can range from games sessions to cooking skills workshops to school holiday activities. We do basic life-skills work with advice around drugs, alcohol and sexual health often using quizzes. We also organise trips which the families of many of the young people would not be able to afford, e.g. go-karting, and an annual trip to Westminster.
@21 is a self-funding charity, and all governance and administration is undertaken by volunteers. Volunteers also help out with our activities on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, which enables our two youth workers to do more, and get involved with more young people.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to support their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Her Late Majesty The Queen’s Golden Jubilee and was continued following the accession of His Majesty The King. 2025 marks the third year of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service. Recipients are announced annually on
@21 is one of 231 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. Their work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around them.
Representatives of @21 will receive the award crystal and certificate from Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, Professor Elizabeth Barnes CBE, early in 2026. In addition, two volunteers from the charity will attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in May and June 2026, along with other recipients of this year’s award.
The Chair of @21, Jane Tattersall, said “I am so thrilled that our project’s work has been recognised in this way. This is really good news for everyone who supports @21 because it shows we are running an effective charity which is backed by a team of dedicated volunteers. Without our volunteers it is unlikely that we would be as effective as we have been over the past 28 years. I will happily accept this Award not only on behalf of the volunteers but also the young people we work with”.
