A VOLUNTARY group has helped more than 5,500 young people in East Lancashire over the past five years.

And in a bid to reach out to even more boys and girls in East Lancashire, Inter Madrassah has secured three years of funding from Children in Need for a youth club in Blackburn.

Using the funding they opened the youth group in Chester Street earlier this month on Saturdays and Sundays.

Set up in 2006, Blackburn-based Inter Madrassah was created by a group of four volunteers, including the current principal director Moulana Mohammed Tayyab Sidat, to keep young people engaged in positive activities and ‘out of trouble.’ Moulana Sidat, 26, from Blackburn, said the group has been promoting community cohesion through a football tournament which started back in 2006.

It now attracts over 1,500 youngsters from Blackburn, Burnley, Bradford and further afield each year.

Moulana Sidat said: “It is the determination of the volunteers we have had that has kept us going. It is about creating champions of the future.

“We have an Islamic name but we have an open door policy for everyone to join whether they are Muslim or not.

“The most important thing is the enjoyment children get and that brings them back.

“They pick up skills which will make them better citizens and they will be able to use them in later life.”

Since the running the initial football tournament he said the group now works with a number of mainstream organisations. These include the North West Ambulance Service, British Heart Foundation, the police, Blackburn with Darwen Council, Tauheedul Islam Girls High School, the Prince’s Trust, Islamic Relief and Twin Valley Homes.

Working with these organisations, the group offers a number of schemes that cover areas including education, health and safety as well as sport.

Through recreational activities such as go karting and sports like cricket and football and education sessions including first aid training, the organisation gets its message to young people.

Mr Sidat said: “When we were young people there wasn’t much for us to do.

“We saw a gap in the black and minority ethnic community. That gap was the main reason for us to start this work.

“We are a voluntary organisation and we run Inter Madrassah on top of our paid jobs because we have a passion to help young people and steer them away from anti-social behaviour and keep them on the right path.”