VOLUNTEERS who have been the eyes and ears of a community for more than 35 years are urging the future generation to become more involved.

And they say that the future of Higher Croft Action Group, which offers a ‘brilliant service’ to residents in the area, would be bright if more people joined in.

Pat Cocker, secretary and treasurer of the group also said that following the opening of Blackburn Youth Zone, the council should ensure communities did not miss out in favour of the town centre.

She said: “Really I think the council should have spent the money on the community rather than spending all that on the Youth Zone putting young people all into one place.

“It’s getting late and the nights are getting dark - I wouldn’t want my children walking into the town centre and being near the Boulevard in the evenings. We should have the resources here.”

Mrs Cocker ran the YO Club, in Higher Croft, with Christine Robinson but because of a lack of volunteers the 62-year-old said the club had closed.

She said: “We decided to leave the youth club with the people at the energy zone. We were open till 10pm and almost 200 children passed through the doors. But the reality is that two grannies couldn’t carry on. Now they can do activities till 6pm but really they want to be out much later.”

Now Mrs Cocker puts her energy into the Higher Croft Action Group, which is based above the Spar in Manxman Road.

Along with Michael Johnson, chairman of the group, and councillors the group offers a service three times a week, including a breakfast club, job club and a credit union.

Mr Johnson said: “We are here for the community and the residents should come more often. If we can help we will. It would be great to see more young faces here because we hope that the future generation will want to volunteer and keep the community spirit going.”