From: Martin Smith, founding member and chairman of Ilkley Youth and Community Association

I WRITE in response to the recent letter from Alex Summers and to his incorrect comment on the "...absence (pre-dating Covid) of a Youth Centre in the town..." I am a founder member and trustee of Ilkley Youth and Community Association (IYCA) (registered charity 1021673) which has been active for almost 30 years.

The IYCA has been responsible for the running of a youth centre ("The Warehouse" based in Little Lane, Ilkley) since 1993. We encourage our young people in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding to use our many facilities and grounds for recreation. We work with Bradford Council Youth Service to ensure they have a safe space to do so. We offer regular (albeit interrupted during the current pandemic) youth clubs to children and young people who will benefit from this service and support.

In addition to this IYCA has delivered free school meals during school holidays for children in and around Ilkley. We provided activities for primary school children during the recent Easter Holidays. For many years we have also organised 'Summer of Fun' activities.

Going forward IYCA has been funded to work with a range of partners to create a new Youth Forum in town. This will help to ensure young people's views and voices are taken into consideration. This is as well as working on a number of other projects as we move back towards a pre pandemic world.

We are very keen to continue our work with the young people in the local community. We especially encourage Alex and anyone else to let us know how they would like to support our work: email iycabookings@gmail.com.