CONWAY Hawkins has run Colwinston Youth Club for almost forty years.

A former Cowbridge Police Sergeant, Conway noted the impact the Church Street youth centre had on reducing anti-social behaviour and youth crime.

"It was such a positive effect," Conway told Nub News.

"There were lots of problems in Colwinston with smashed street lights and hoax calls to the fire service, so I opened a small club up there and it's been going ever since."

The Colwinston group began as a volunteer-run club, before the Vale of Glamorgan Council withdrew its youth club support in 2018. Now the club is once again organised by volunteers.

"We've struggled a bit during Covid," said Conway.

"The Village Hall closed, then we restarted in October for three weeks before having to stop again.

"Numbers are quite a bit lower, but they're starting to build up again. What we really need are volunteers.

"All our current volunteers are male, so it would be good to have some variety.

"They don't have to do every single night; we can do a rota system. There's lots of different roles, some just like doing the tuck shop but others like to be more involved," he said.

The club meets on Friday nights for secondary school pupils to meet with friends and enjoy games and develop social skills.

"Young people in rural areas, get on the school bus and go to school, and then get back on the bus and come home," said Conway.

"Their opportunities for developing normal social skills outside of education are limited.

"We've found over the years that the village kids often struggle socially, just to talk with other people.

"We see a major part of our role as encouraging young people to have that informal sorting out of issues, the way adults would.

"We get so much feedback from parents and young people to say they developed skills here. Our young people run the club; they learn a lot of leadership skills," he said.

Colwinston Youth Club members can also complete their Duke of Edinburgh award, and their voluntary hours for the Welsh Baccalaureate.

"The yo-yo of being open for a couple of weeks, and then being closed again has made things difficult. But we're back now, and encouraging new members to join," said Conway.