Published: February 16, 2011
New Burnham-On-Sea Dreamscheme group to launch this month

Burnham-On-Sea's long-awaited Dreamscheme youth club is to launch later this month.

Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported last year that Burnham Police wanted to repeat the success of Highbridge's award-winning Dreamscheme by setting up a similar group in the town.

The new group will launch with a half-term open day on Tuesday (22nd February) from 10.30am-2.30pm at the BAY Centre in Cassis Close.

Children aged 8-14 years will be able to join the group and find out more about the rewards they can earn by doing fun community activities.

Burnham Dreamscheme Leader John Alexander, pictured above, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "We've had a fantastic response from volunteers wanting to help us run the group and there are now 11 leaders in place."

"There's also been lots of interest from children wanting to take part. 22 have signed up and many others have expressed an interest."

"At our open day, we'll be letting the youngsters pick the community tasks that we'll be doing in Burnham and then deciding on the treats they can earn."

Inspector Roger Tolley from Burnham Police, who is a big supporter of the scheme, told Burnham-On-Sea.com he welcomes the launch.

"This is a very good opportunity for our community to give direction and support to our young people. If we can engage them early on and encourage them to appreciate values and to respect our community then that's a big step towards making Burnham stronger," he said.

Dreamscheme groups are entirely self-funded and are staffed by volunteers who run community activities - such as craft making, fundraising car washes and litter picks - to help them earn points towards treats such as trips to theme parks and other fun activities.

Burnham's MP, Tessa Munt, will be attending nextv week's launch of the scheme in Burnham.