TEN-year-old Daisy Thomlinson was very nervous when she started attending Carlisle Youth Zone but quickly learned there was a lot of fun to be had.

Thanks to the support of Junior Club team leader Jess Butler she was able to settle in and be herself.

“If Jess wasn’t here then I don’t think I’d actually be coming. She is the most amazing and inspiring person I’ve ever met.

“When I first started at youth zone she was the one who welcomed me in. I didn’t know what I was doing and I helped her do stuff because none of my friends were here.

“I have made a lot more friends, a lot more than I have made in school,” she said.

Daisy is also grateful at how staff have helped her family.

“Since my brother has been getting bullied, quite a lot focused on our family,” she said.

“It made me feel a bit sad at the time but because Jess has been here I have been able to focus a lot more on myself instead of my brother.

“He keeps getting really annoyed and I feel bad for him. Sometimes people annoy him here but now he knows what to do; he just walks off.

“It has made him a lot happier that he’s got someone to talk to. It’s made him feel a bit more comfortable in his own body,” Daisy continued, adding she is also a happier person than she was when she first started.

“I think mum feels a bit relieved because she gets time to herself now we’ve started coming to youth zone.

“She is a superwoman. She walks from our house to Brook Street and picks someone up from there, walks to Warwick Road and picks someone up from there and comes to youth zone. Sometimes she picks more people up.”

When asked what is the best thing about Carlisle Youth Zone, Daisy added: “You get more opportunities to do things than what you would normally have done. Come in, make new friends and just be yourself.

“You don’t have to be someone who hides all your stuff away, just go to tell someone if something is happening.”

n In tomorrow’s News & Star: How Carlisle Youth Zone’s mentoring scheme transformed Uwem’s life and how you can get involved.