Our History
Seaham Youth Centre first opened in 1971. Ritchie Pitt – former Sunderland AFC footballer and 1973 FA Cup winning legend – officially opened the centre to the community of Seaham. Many in the town have fond memories of evenings at the ‘Youthy’. In 2018. the centre adopted a slightly new name ‘Seaham Youth & Community Centre’ to better reflect our wider scope of projects.
What We Do Today
Today, we hope the centre continues to provide a welcome space to young people through our variety of projects. But we are also a space for members of the wider community to use and hire. We host a number of community projects free at the point of use for local people. Many of these projects often help those in need either financially, socially or otherwise.
Our competitive room hire rates and membership scheme allows our spaces to be well used by many local organisations and societies. These include local cricket and football teams, our resident drama group, In Your Face Theatre and Groundwork NE, who our weekly youth group runs in partnership with.
As a charity, our main working aim is to help young people without distinction through leisure-time activities, whilst helping develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities. Education and training is also a key part of what we do to provide further personal and professional development for members of our local community.
Find out more on our What’s On page and Our Spaces page.
Finding Us
Seaham Youth & Community Centre is located in a central location which is well connected by road and public transport networks.
By Road
We’re located on Strangford Road, just off the roundabout where the B1287 Road, Station Road, The Avenue and the Graham Way meet in Seaham, County Durham, North East England. Directly opposite the household waste recycling centre (HWRC).
We’re only a 3 minute drive from Seaham Town Centre and a 6 minute drive from the A19 which connects northbound to North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland and southbound to Peterlee, Hartlepool and Teesside.
The nearest cities, Sunderland is 6 miles to the south and Durham is 13 miles to the east.
By Rail
Seaham Train Station is located right next to the centre. Trains on the Durham Cost Railway line call at Seaham Station. Platform 2 is just 2 minutes walk from us and Platform 1 is a 5 minute walk via the underpass.
Northern Rail services operate through Seaham at least hourly in both directions.
- Platform 1 trains head Southbound to Nunthorpe via Horden, Hartlepool, Billingham, Stockton and Middlesbrough.
- Platform 2 trains head Northbound to Hexham via Sunderland, Heworth, Newcastle, Metrocentre, Blaydon and Prudhoe.
By Bus
The nearest bus stops on New Strangford Road are just a 2 minute walk from our front door. The follow routes use this stop:
Other bus services nearby include:
- Go North East X6 (which stops at Seaham Harbour) runs from Peterlee, East Durham College and Dalton Park to Seaham and Sunderland.
- Arriva 22 (which stops at Westlea/Eastlea) running from Durham, Sherburn, Haswell, Peterlee, Easington Colliery, Dalton Park, New Seaham, Ryhope and Grangetown.
- Arriva 23 (which stops at Westlea/Eastlea) running from Hartlepool, Blackhall, Horden, Peterlee, Easington Colliery, Dalton Park, New Seaham, Ryhope and Grangetown.
Our Trustees
The centre employs a small group of part-time staff to look after the day to day upkeep of the centre such as caretaking and cleaning. The centre coordinator also manages the office and administration of the building, its services and projects.
Meanwhile, our board of trustees look after the overall running of our charitable aims and objectives. Regular committee meetings are held to uphold the centre values, standards and strive for further improvements in our mission. We currently have 8 trustees as detailed below: