"The Sycamore Project" has been running "Zac’s Youth Bar’s" successfully for almost 16 years. Running activities in Farnworth, Stoneclough, Tongue Fold, Little Lever and South East Bolton we serve some of the most deprived areas in Britain.

We are a Christian based charity which was originally founded by individuals from several local churches who wished to make a bigger difference to local young people than was possible within church buildings. We operate in such a way as to be open, accessible and suitable for all young people, of any or no faith and consider our work to be faith based as opposed to faith biased.

Zac's works with over 1200 young people each year and we are proud to have developed a reputation for delivering excellent outcome focused youth provision which meets the needs of a wide range of young people and children through a combination of  schools work (primary and secondary), detached/outreach work, and centre based youth work.    

What area do we serve? 

Farnworth – (where the majority of our activities are based) contains seven Super Output Areas which fall within the 2-5% most deprived on the Index of Multiple Deprivation in the UK, and another six which fall within the 6-20% most deprived. 

Latest statistics shows 37% of children live in poverty, 34% of people live in social housing, and 40% of adults are unemployed

A significant number of young people come from dysfunctional homes. Most of those we work with would spend weekends roaming local streets, some in gangs perpetrating anti-social behaviour and petty crime; some selling drugs to peers and adults. Many lack working role models in the family/community resulting in young people seeking advice from peers, or family members who are also struggling with similar issues.

Add to this the fact that Farnworth is in the top 5% places in England for its high rate of crime, and you can fully understand why the young people we work with have little hope or aspiration.