BACKWELL Youth Club has been given £13,000 to enable it to keep running next year.

The club, which is now run by Rainbow Ltd, applied to Backwell Parish Council for a grant to fund its work and provide vocational training for a young volunteer.

At its meeting on Thursday, the council agreed to pay for the whole amount, to keep up the vital work of the group.

Michael Pratt, chairman of Backwell Youth Club Management Committee, said: “It was a great pleasure for me to be able to tell the service provider and the staff that we can look forward to another year. The children were also delighted.”

Rainbow took over the youth club in April after North Somerset Council withdrew funding for youth clubs across the district.

Backwell Youth Club runs a wide variety of indoor and outdoor activities for youngsters in school years seven to 12, including first aid and cooking.

It is open on Mondays and Thursdays and more than 25 children from the village attend to meet friends and take part in the activities on offer.

Parish council clerk Jane Stone said: “The council agreed to pay the full amount because the youth club is very important to the village and the council wants to support the good work it does.”