A RANGE of media programmes for youngsters will be organised in Thetford as part of a project aimed at providing new opportunities for those living on the town's estates.

A RANGE of media programmes for youngsters will be organised in Thetford as part of a project aimed at providing new opportunities for those living on the town's estates.

The scheme will take place at the newly refurbished Redcastle Community Centre, now the Meet Up Caf�, a new enterprise delivered by Norfolk charity as part of the wider Thetford Inspiring Communities Project which aims to integrate young people across the town.

The aim will be to improve the media skills of young people and their families in areas including website design, blogging, buying and selling on the net and video presenting and broadcast skills.

The courses would begin after the launch of the Meet Up Caf�, scheduled for April, and would run until March 2011. In October, last year people living on Thetford's Redcastle, Abbey and Barnham Cross estates were invited to tell the charity what they would like to see developed with the available funding. Top of the list were the youth caf�, which will be the hub for the project, training opportunities and a community garden project.

Fundraising officer for the Benjamin Foundation, Laura Price, said: “Media was chosen as it a fast developing area which many young people, and indeed all members of the community, are interested in and affected by in their daily lives.

“The project was initially informed by the community at consultation meetings and will continue to be shaped by community need and demand throughout its lifespan. The skills learned are useful both professionally and socially.”

A provisional timetable drawn up for the media programme includes training in areas such as the internet, video recording, basic radio skills and photography.

Blogging was also suggested with a number of youngsters running their own sites and recording their lives, as well as forging links with young people in other countries, Thetford in America for example.

Various events connected to the Inspiring Communities Project would be filmed and shared with the wider world, while radio and broadcasting skills would also be developed.

Finally, a regular newsletter would be produced and sent out nearby in order to practise journalism skills.