00:00For more than two decades, this building has been a safe space for young people in Thanet.
00:04Pie Factory Music supports 8 to 25-year-olds with everything from music to creative projects,
00:10counselling, employment advice and life skills. But when funding was cut by Kent County Council
00:15in 2024, its future was uncertain, with the building at risk of being sold.
00:21I asked Kent County Council for a comment but have not yet received a response.
00:25It was really tough actually. We'd been running a 16-month-long campaign to save this youth centre
00:32because it's the last one in our district. There are no other youth centres specifically
00:38running services for young people and teenagers anymore in Thanet. So it felt really important
00:45to do everything we could to save this one from going to auction.
00:49After endless campaigning, it's now here to stay as over half a million pounds from the government's
00:54Pride and Place funding has allowed Pie Factory Music to buy the freehold of the building.
01:00Symbolically, what it represents for young people across our district is huge.
01:04For us as an organisation, it represents that level of security that we just haven't had.
01:09So today, ministers and local leaders came to see what that decision means on the ground.
01:14Well, it's such good news. I was speaking to the young people that were involved in the campaign
01:18to keep this amazing facility open. And they're just so buoyed up by the fact that the campaign
01:26not only succeeded, but they've won national awards for what they've achieved.
01:30And I'm proud too, not just because of what they've done, but because it was government funding
01:35through the Pride in Place programme that was able to provide the money to keep this youth facility open.
01:42I'm really pleased that the Secretary of State was able to see the difference that the money
01:47that has been allocated to Ramsgate is starting to make by the fact that we've saved this
01:53Pie Factory Music Youth Centre, the only dedicated youth centre in the whole of FANIT.
01:58We know that the people of Ramsgate have said that our young people are one of the priorities
02:03that they want to see the money spent on. And when this centre was under threat,
02:09we decided that this money needed to be spent partly on saving this centre.
02:15So we've heard from authorities, but the most important voice here is that of the young people,
02:19as they've been tirelessly campaigning to save this centre in the first place.
02:24There was parts where you're like, oh, are we going to be able to do it?
02:26So much money we had to raise. And then getting that done and then also winning award for it.
02:32It's just bonuses after bonuses, really.
02:34To me, the focus was never on the award, but more so on making sure that this Pie was still
02:41here
02:41and Pie was still a thing, because it's a very important place for young people in the district
02:48and even outside of the district. So having this as a stable place was very important to me.
02:54After years of uncertainty, Pie Factory Music is now here to stay. And for the young people who fought
03:00for it, it's proof their voices were heard. Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV, Ramsgate.
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