Natasha Ennin, Cabinet Member for Community Safety visited Millwall Community Trust ‘s (MCT) Premier League Kicks session at Damilola Taylor Centre (DTC) on Wednesday during bonfire night.
MCT’s Damilola Taylor Centre session has been running for a number years and is a key session in the area to support young people and give the local community opportunities to open and free access football in the Peckham area.
This week Premier League Kicks session at DTC took an event style approach as Deptford Lions, Escalate FC, AFC Lions and MCT’s PL Kicks side attended and took part in an open access event allowing young people in the U13’s age group and local grassroots sides in addition to our very own PL Kicks side to play competitive fixtures and socially mix with each other in a safe and fun way.
MCT in partnership with Active Communities Network, Fight for Change, Mentivity and St Giles Trust deliver on the Mayor of Londons MyEnds project under the GameChanger name is Southwark where targeted resources and positive activities are offered to local young people such as the DTC session to support young people reach their full potential.
Natasha Ennin, said : “I want to say a big shout out to all the teams who played on Bonfire night and congratulations to AFC Lions and Escalate who made it to the finals.
“The kicks programme is more than just regular free football sessions, it promotes community cohesion and allows young people to have a point of contact to be signposted other youth projects.”
Joubin Sarrami, MCT’s Community Manager said: “Sessions like Damilola Taylor Centre that take place all year round give young people a safe space on a weekly basis to take part in sport and be of something bigger.
“It gives them a place to come and play football and give them wider opportunities such as workshops and educational topics that they want to take part in as well as opportunities to gain qualifications so when they are ready to go into the world of work they have been supported in their first steps.
“A big thank you to all partners involved such as the Premier League, Mayor of London, Gamechangers Consortium and Southwark council for supporting the sustainability of sessions like this and Millwall's Kicks project."
