St Helens YMCA

St. Helens YMCA started as a regular meeting of young men in the town. In the early days there were various meeting places. In 1902 work started on a new building in St. Helens. The YMCA moved into a fine building on the corner of North Road and Duke Street. This was one of the first purpose-built YMCA buildings in the country and was opened in 1903. In 1908 the Boy Scouts formed one of the earliest troops in the world and is today the earliest Scout Troop in existence. In 1956 a new hostel was opened, greatly enhancing the number of people that could be accommodated. In the 1980s, St. Helens YMCA began to look at accommodation provision. The hostel was refurbished and the YMCA examined alternative types of accommodation - especially “move-on”. The YMCA was one of the first pilot foyer projects in the country. The Foyer Project offers a solution to the no job-no home-no job cycle and helps many people to progress. In the early 1990s, St. Helens YMCA opened Central Court, adjacent to the existing building. This provided first stage “move-on” accommodation offering a degree of independence. In the late 1990s, Norman Salisbury Court was developed - eventually providing 44 independent living flats nearby, extending accommodation to three stages of housing, the first in the country. St Helens YMCA obtained a further building in Corporation Street., which was refurbished and used initially for our expanding Training Department which includes a brand new IT & Training suite.