THOUSANDS of pounds have been received by a voluntary service helping vulnerable teenager to build social connections in Maldon.

The Maldon and District Community Voluntary Service (CVS) has received £19,920 from the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Unit to develop its gaming unit helps young people in Maldon.

So far, 165 young people in Maldon have learnt to build social connections with the help of the scheme.

The Community Gaming Initiative encourages youngsters to get involved in a range of computer and physical games. 

The initiative is held on Friday evenings at the Maldon Activity Centre from 5pm to 8pm.

The funding helped the Maldon and District CVS with staffing costs, training, equipment and administration.

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex and Chair of the Essex Violence and Vulnerability Partnership, thanked Maldon and District CVS for their work to prevent and keep young and vulnerable people away from crime.

Mr Hirst said: “Tackling drug driven violence and protecting young and vulnerable people are key priorities in my Police and Crime Plan.

“By working with partners across Essex, through the Violence and Vulnerability Partnership, we have invested heavily in helping young and vulnerable people stay away from crime.

“Positive prevention activity, such as this, combined with robust action against the hardened criminals who exploit vulnerable people and bring violence into our communities is working and we are seeing a steady decline in drug driven violence across Essex.

“Working with specialist organisations based within communities is an important way to deliver highly targeted support for the people at risk.

“It is great to see the positive impact Maldon and District CVS is having in their community and I am pleased to be able to offer our support through this grant funding.

“By working together, we can make safer, secure communities for all.”

Sarah Troop, director of Maldon and District CVS, said: “Funding from the VVU was vital to enabling us to establish this much needed service in the Maldon District.

“We have been able to create a safe space and it has been a pleasure to see how young people have engaged and connected with each other through gaming together.

“We have even been able to welcome community policing staff to the project to get involved.”