West London’s youth inspired to change direction through sport, singing and dance, with help from London Freemasons
W4 Youth provides somewhere safe to go and something good to do to young people in West London, aged between 11 and 19. Its members are from all social and ethnic backgrounds and it works to improve their health, well-being and social cohesion by engaging them in sports they love, cool and contemporary singing and dance activities, social time with their peers and support and guidance for those who need it. The result is a positive impact on both the members and the wider community.
The £5,000 grant from the London Freemasons has enabled them to expand the number of coaches and buy new equipment needed to support more young people in their activities over the past three months. Chiswick based W4 Youth runs its sports activities from their Hub in the Southfields Recreation Ground and street dance and musical theatre at the St Peters Church Hall. The plan is to build a new home in the park in the future.
Football is at the heart of W4 Youth and the W4 Youth Rangers teams have always been in local competitive leagues since 2009. Also there are basketball and other traditional youth club activities as well as a new boxing fitness training club all run from the Hub.
W4 Youth’s founder Sally Chacatte said: “We love helping people like Luke, who is 13 years old and was born with a rare blood disease which left him very vulnerable to infection. Tragically, his father passed away suddenly in 2023 and he struggled to sleep, could not focus on schoolwork and felt tired all the time. Since joining W4 Youth he attends all four sessions each week and thoroughly enjoys playing for one of the W4 Youth teams. His mother says “he is calmer, comes home and does his homework straight away, sleeps well and gets up ready and happy to go to school!” This is a testament to the work we do and we are very grateful to the London Freemasons for their grant.”
Paul King, from the London Freemasons, said: “We love how the W4 Youth inspires young West Londoners to seize their opportunities in front of them through sport and the arts. They really understand what the youth need and what is “cool”!”
