A BRADLEY youth worker has retired after more than 30 years service to the recently closed Cowling Youth Club.

Lynne Hollings, 66, said her good-byes to nearly 40 children who attended a party on February 10, which was the last meeting for Cowling Youth Club.

The club, which met on Tuesday evenings at Cowling Village Hall, has been running in the village since the early 1970s.

Lynne said: "It's changed a lot since I started in 1983, but we've had to change with the times. It's been all about getting a large group of teenagers together and helping them with their social development and teaching them life skills.

"My job was to motivate kids and harness their energy so they could get a lot out of it," she said.

"Young people came to the club because they wanted to and what they learned, they enjoyed."

Lynne believes that the activities the children took part in "gave them a framework to be parents later in their life".

"We gave them as much information as we could and let them digest it," said Lynne. "By motivating them to make decisions, we gave them the skills they can use to have a successful and happy life.

"Young people need information to make choices, and I practise what I preach," said Lynne, who has also passed on her knowledge to her two children and six grandchildren.

She said: "I'm very happy with what I achieved and I have a lot to look back on."

One of her most memorable moments was researching and creating a book with the children.

"It was written through the eyes of children and was about children living in Cowling during the Industrial Revolution.

"It was fiction based on fact and started out talking about of a girl called Alice."

The young club members, under the guidance of Lynne, finished the National Lottery funded project in 2007.

"It was quite a big project," said Lynne. "It took us about three years to complete it."

Paul Carswell, principle officer for the North Yorkshire County Council Youth Support Service, paid tribute to Lynne for more than 30 years with the youth service.

"We're so busy focusing on what's next for Cowling Youth Club, but Lynne's legacy will live on in the community."