The lads (and lasses) club is spreading, thanks to Bolton and Blackburn

This will come as no surprise to readers in Bolton – and more widely in the North West – but I was fascinated to learn this week about the spreading success of the town's Lads and Girls Club . The very name possibly makes some of you think of Victoria Wood, ukeleles and foggy cobbles, but as Peter Little enlightened me, that isn't the case at all. Peter is the director of a big, in-the-building, orange structure in the middle of Bolton's neighbour, Blackburn. It's YouthZone , a £6 million project to provide the Lancashire town's staggeringly large youth population – a quarter of local people are aged under 15 – with a modern version of the good old Victorian and early 20th century youth clubs. Dancing, climbing, camping, theatre – whatever the young people say they would like to see, and to help to make practicable. Little doesn't hide the inspiration: "You haven't been to see Bolton Lads and Girls Club?" he says. "You should." So I will. But meanwhile, you can see from their website, with the history of their £4.5 million rebuild, and from the example they have inspired in Blackburn, how an old but essentially sound concept has been re-energised. Crucial to the process have been two things: the willingness of local councils to be very encouraging while ceding control to voluntary and/or private sector organisers; and the whole-hearted involvement of the latter in the process. Initial talk of some 50 mentors for young people has been exceeded almost tenfold. And as I write in a piece going up elsewhere on the site later this morning, in relation to Blackburn and Darwen council , there has also been real dedication to involving young people in deciding policy. This is genuine, not patronising. Apart from anything else, as Little and I agreed over coffee in his office, they know a lot more about computers than we do. His office, incidentally, is in the shell of what was once one of the world's first municipal power stations. That reminds you of the wells of imagination and energy, shown in the past, which are there to be drawn on in this part of the world. As well as Blackburn, Bolton Lads and Girls' success is inspiring similar projects in Carlisle and Oldham, with more likely to follow. The Northerner hopes to bring you more on this, as things proceed. The boxer Amir Khan started off at BLGC. Who knows what other northern stars may emerge, but they surely will.