Delighted staff at the Epping Forest Volunteer Bureau have begun a search for a full-time youth officer this week after receiving a £10,000 grant from the Jack Petchey Foundation.

The money will go towards funding the cost of recruiting, training and paying the youth officer - whose role will be to encourage more young people aged 14 to 25 to work as volunteers.

Bureau spokeswoman Marina Sherriff explained that the Jack Petchey Foundation had been set up by a retired East End businessman with the aim of supporting youth projects in East London and West Essex.

The Bureau's success in securing further funding follows the announcement in March this year that a £263,356 lottery grant would ensure its survival until at least 2004.

The appointment of a youth officer means that a range of youth organisations across the Epping Forest district - including Ongar, North Weald and Abridge - will continue to benefit from the work of the Bureau's volunteers.

The Bureau, which is based in Homefield House next to Epping High Street's civic offices, aims to match the skill of its volunteers with those organisations that would most benefit from them.

In Ongar, this has seen Bureau volunteers Sarah Bateman and Louise Brooker assisting at the Youth Plus youth club as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme activities.

The club, which caters for young people aged between 14 and 25 who are with or without disabilities, meets weekly at the Ongar Enterprise Centre in Fyfield Road.

Further details of its activities are available online at www.youth-plus.org.uk

For more information on volunteering in Epping Forest, contact Marina Sherriff or Jacqui Webb on 01992 564256.

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