Young people are now sitting in the village hall of Gasselternijveen, where the coffee mornings normally take place. Four of the five have carried out a special project there in recent months. Their mission: to make the village hall attractive not only for the older generation, but also for the youth.
“There is little happening here for young people,” says Tibbe, one of the young people involved. “We thought: maybe we can ensure that young people do come to De Spil.”
The request came from the village cooperative De Brug and Sport Drenthe. Piet Wolters from the village hall and project employee Jessica De Franco presented the challenge to young people from the local football club.
The young people received their assignment six months ago. Since then they have tried to get the youth to come to the village hall more often. “We started brainstorming: what would we like,” says Olivier, another involved young person. That resulted in activities such as laser tag and a ghost tour. They also conducted a survey to discover what they liked.
The interest turned out to be greater than expected. “A lot of young people came,” says Olivier. “We actually didn’t count on that. Afterwards we received positive reactions for days. When something is organized, there is really enthusiasm.”
Piet Wolters is impressed by the commitment of the young people. “They pleasantly surprised me,” he says. “They are planning to organize a pub quiz and they are full of ideas. There is often not much to do here at the weekends, but their ideas are exactly in line with that: from children’s bingo to other activities that we can really do something with.”
The survey also shows that it is not even that important what is organised. Tibbe summarizes it simply: “It doesn’t really matter. As long as there is something to do.”