in victory.

Last night a packed public meeting at Somerset Primary School was told that a building at Daniel's Head has been offered to the Sandys Community Action Group.

It was hailed as a major victory for the group, but there are two catches -- work on renovating the building will cost $25,000 and a May 23 deadline has been set for the work to be completed.

Gerald Fubler, of SCAG, last night called on the community to give their skills free to help get the building ready and he also demanded that Government prove its commitment to the youth by helping to pay for the renovations and supporting the centre with cash grants.

In a letter dated May 1, Bermuda Land Development Company CEO Carl Musson said: "This is to confirm the Company's commitment to providing Building 2 at Daniel's Head for use as a youth centre.

"We hope this building will meet the needs of the organisation until a permanent west end community centre is found.'' He added: "As you know, our two organisations have not succeeded in recent months in securing outside support for the operation of this building as a youth centre.

"We have all been frustrated by this, but the time has come to set that aside and take direct action.'' Mr. Musson plans to renovate Building 2 at a cost of $25,000 and put in place a formal agreement with people who will assume financial responsibility for running it.

He said the BLDC was in touch with contractors and he suggested meeting the SCAG members at Building 2 next Wednesday to organise volunteers.

"Operating this building will also cost money. There will be electricity bills, ongoing maintenance charges, insurance costs and equipment needs,'' added Mr. Musson.

Mr. Fubler said he was delighted by the agreement although he hopes it will be temporary until a bigger building at Daniel's Head becomes available.

He said: "We are delighted that we have this building. It has taken three years but it has been worth it, it shows the whole Island what can be achieved.

"This is a very important development for us. I have lost some children to the streets during negotiations for this but I can get them back,'' he said.

"We have a deadline of May 23 to get this building up and running and we need volunteer help from the community because the only way the programme we want to offer will work is if the community gets involved.''