Lifehouse for young people gets communal lounge makeover

Accrington hostel for young people gets makeover thanks to the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Princes’ Trust

A team of students have given up their time and rolled up their sleeves to decorate the home of vulnerable young people in Accrington.

The 16 young adults aged 16 – 23, that are all enrolled on Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) Prince’s Trust employability programme, came armed with paint brushes, equipment, and bags of energy to decorate the lounge of The Salvation Army’s Lifehouse (hostel) for young people, Crossroads, located on Empress Street, Accrington, which houses homeless young people from the area, aged 16 – 21.

The Salvation Army redecoration project was chosen by the students enrolled on the LFRS Prince’s Trust programme as a way for local young people to support other young people. Samantha Harrison, service manager at Crossroads, welcomed the opportunity and said: “We’re so grateful to the young people on the Prince’s Trust programme for choosing to redecorate our communal lounge, providing aspirations and examples to our residents of what they could do if they wanted and providing new comfort as they are welcomed into their home.

“The young people on the project are similar ages to our residents and so it also helps them in doing something for those less fortunate, realising what is going on in their community with young people the same age, and building skills whilst doing good, and we are thrilled to be a part of that.”

Crossroads Lifehouse is operated by The Salvation Army and features six individual flats and five bedrooms for young people experiencing homelessness across Lancashire and Hyndburn where they can live for up to two years and be assigned a specialist support worker to help them in their journey towards independent living and permanent accommodation.  

The Prince’s Trust Employability Programme is a nationally recognised qualification run by Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service with the intense 12-week course run from Hyndburn Fire Station. Bethany Wellings, team leader of the Prince’s Trust programme leads the students and was involved when they chose The Salvation Army to be the project that receives support. She said: “These programmes exist to break patterns and barriers that many young people find themselves in with an aim to get a positive outcome at the end.

“The Salvation Army’s Crossroads project in particular is one where our students felt they could work to support others their own age whilst also demonstrating to residents that they can achieve a lot if they too sign up to be part of The Prince’s Trust programme, building on transferrable skills and turning their lives around.”

In total the project was given just two weeks from start to finish with students onsite daily from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm painting the lounge and creating a mural.

For more information on Crossroads and The Salvation Army’s homelessness services visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/crossroads.