St. Ouen's Youth and Community Centre

The history of St Ouen’s Youth and Community Centre starts in or before 1860, when certain notables of the parish invited subscriptions to a fund for the construction of an Anglican parochial school. In January 1861, a management committee was formed and a month later the Reverend Canon George Clement Rector of St Ouen, acquired the first parcel of land which was held by three notables of the parish including the Seigneur, as Trustees. These stipulated that the land and all buildings on it were to be used for the instruction of children from the working classes or poor families living in the Parish and governed in accordance with the principals of the Anglican Church.

The Rector was given responsibility for the religious and moral upbringing of the children and authorised to establish a Sunday school on the premises.

In 1912, The States passed a law on primary education and assumed responsibility for the education of children of primary school age in the Island which meant that the running of the school transferred to the States. However the ownership of the land and the buildings remained unchanged.

On 1st May 1922, the use of the building as a school ceased and the former Wesleyan school on the site of the now the Parish Depot became the Parish school with the administration of the old church school being handed over by the Education committee of the day to the Rector Reverend J Pepin.

Nothing happened for more than 40 years until the Reverend E J A Richardson realised something should be done to regularise the ownership of the premises and update the purposes of the Trust.

On the 1st April 1964 the Court ordered that henceforth the property should be held by the Rector, and Churchwardens of the Parish and by their successors in trust for the use and benefit of the Parish Church of St Ouen.

In or about 1975, following a request from the States of Jersey Youth officer, the Constable J P Pirouet set up a working part to determine what facilities could be made available to the young people of the parish.

The working party recommended the conversion of the Church school into a youth and community centre as it was in a central location, close to the Parish hall and the largest concentration of housing in the Parish.

The proposal was taken to a Parish Assembly who supported the project and voted funds to help with the conversion. The original working party became the development committee and a variety of fund raising activities commenced within the Parish. The official opening of the Centre took place on 8th July 1978.

Following the decision to proceed with the conversion of the Church school, discussions took place with regard to amending the purposes of the trust re-established by the Royal Court on 1st April 1964 and to enlarge the number of Trustees, by adding the Constable and one of the Procureurs du Bien Public. However this was not pursued at the time.

More recently in June 2006, the Rector of St Ouen, John Harkin and the other Trustees decided to review the operation of the Centre and following discussions with the Constable Ken Vibert and the two Procureur du Bien Public, a working party was formed to consider the future of the Centre which would include future ownership and funding.

The working party presented their report to the Trustees on January 2008 and in early 2009, a Parish assembly agreed a proposal to undertake a feasibility study into the redevelopment of the Centre.

In November of the same year, Parishioners were presented with plans and agreed at a Parish assembly to allocate funds to enable the feasibility study to take place. Mr Philip Skelhorn was subsequently engaged by the Parish to carry out the feasibility study.

In 2010, the new Rector of St Ouen, Ian Pallent and the two churchwardens met with the Constable Ken Vibert and his procureurs to consider the original working party’s recommendations and discuss a way forward. User groups and Parishioners were consulted on the re-design of the present building and asked their views on what might be possible. At the same time initial advice was sought from the planning department.

Although the study was concluded in October 2012, the Trustees were not happy with the outcome as they felt that the redevelopment plans were both inappropriate and impractical.

Since that time further work was commissioned by the Trustees and Constable, Michael Paddock to determine whether a major redevelopment of the building could be financed by incorporating some commercial elements within the overall plan. A further plan was drawn up allowing for a doctor’s surgery, and a nursery school to form part of the redevelopment.

In January 2016, One of the Trustees, Reverent Ian Pallent informed a Parish assembly a major redevelopment would not take place, as it had proved to be not financially viable.

The Assembly were however told of an alternative proposal which had the full backing of the Trustees. The plan included the refurbishment of the existing facilities, improved access for the less able and the creation a new café within the building to serve the community.

The management committee plan to undertake a range of fundraising initiatives as well as seek contributions from the public and other charitable organisations, with a view to completing the project by the end of 2016.

The Centre currently receives an annual grant from the Parish and one from St Ouen’s Church. Additional income is derived from hiring rooms to a number of different users providing a range of activities for all ages. The income is used to meet the Centre’s day to day running costs and maintain the fabric of the building.