THE challenge of renovating the Blackburn YMCA building is all in a day's work for the new general secretary Peter Crossley.

Peter, 28, who lives in Lancaster, has been working with the association for ten years since graduating from St Martin's College and has now been named as the new manager at the Blackburn centre.

He has already applied for National Lottery grants to help give the building a facelift. "When I went to college I started a youth studies topic I knew nothing about and was going to drop at the end of the first year," he said.

"But then I had to do a placement at Lancaster YMCA".

"I thought it was going to be an organisation for homeless old men but after I went I never looked back.

"The Blackburn YMCA is mainly a youth and community centre and my job will be to manage the building.

"We are hoping to revamp the whole place. The YMCA is quite an old building and hasn't been touched since it was purpose built in 1967."

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