don’t hang out on street corners…

Fed up with the lack of alternative activities for under-18s in your community? Then maybe it’s time to do something about it. Ed Walker takes a look at what a group of teenagers from Wimbledon have achieved

The 12-18 gap. It’s something that many people don’t realise is there, but when growing up it’s a time when you develop in so many ways and on so many levels. It’s a time when children learn not just about the world around them, but also their place inside it and how others fit into it to.

In the leafy surroundings of Wimbledon, South West London, a group of teenagers decided to do something to fill this age gap. Too young to go out and get drunk, too young to just sit around inside, there was something missing.

MeMu was born out of this idea, giving young people a safe place to go – but a place they could call their own.

Merton Multicultural Co-operative Union is an organisation that is run as a social enterprise by teenage directors, with adults just there to keep a watchful eye. The young people drive the company forward.

MeMu delivers a number of services to young people, gigs for young bands to play and the young to attend, outdoor acoustic music events and, most importantly, it gives teenagers a sense of running their own business and for once having their destiny in their own hands.

Francine Bello, 18, Managing Director of MeMu, said: “On a practical side I've learnt how a business, and in particular a cooperative can function successfully, but on a more personal level I've learnt a lot about my peers and what teenagers can actually achieve if given the opportunity to apply themselves,.”

Francine recalled one of her favourite MeMu moments, an outdoor acoustic event in the large piazza in Wimbledon town centre during last summer.

She said: “It was the first time we'd really gone out into the public and we gained a lot of recognition from that.”

Recognition is something that MeMu has become good at gaining, first of all from local bands that are eager to play at the Wimbledon Community Centre where MeMu holds its events.

The Community Centre is an unlikely place to see a large group of young people congregating, but bands of fourteen upwards have found themselves playing to crowds of over 250 people.

Chris Bull, 17, formerly of A Minutes Glory, who headlined MeMu, said: “It's the best opportunity for young bands who can’t necessarily get many gigs in so-called 'proper venues', so it was pretty much our only opportunity to perform, something we were and still are very grateful for.”

One of the biggest challenges for MeMu was becoming credible with young people in the area, and with crowds of over 200 regularly at the live events it appears they are hitting the target.

Katherine Scoble, 17, Wimbledon, remembers her first MeMu gig: “Since I wasn’t old enough to go to other gigs, it was a safe environment my mum allowed me to go and it was somewhere that I could hang out later in the evening.”

Having established itself as a ‘local brand’, the teenage directors are now looking to the future.

Ant Williams, 18, Human Resources Director, said: “I think MeMu is a good idea, as it aims to give teenagers safe places to meet away from drugs, tobacco and drink. At the moment, this is at our regular gigs, and hopefully in the future, at a cafe studio.”

Francine echoes this vision: “Our ultimate goal is to achieve the cafe-studio we initially set out for and that would be great, but in the short term just to make young people happy by creating a space, albeit temporary, for them to rock out and have fun.”

It seems MeMu has come a long way since its inception in the late 90s, and let’s hope that attending MeMu gigs in a safe environment becomes a staple part of growing up for 12-18 year olds as a bottle of White Lightning cider was on a park bench.