By 1977, 50% of juvenile crime in the North Wales Police D Division - with a population of ~170,000 - was committed by children and young people from Caia Park (population ~13,000). 

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In 1978, Malcolm King was leading the “Intermediate Treatment” (I.T.) team in Wrecsam. The role of I.T. was to identify and intervene with those young people most at risk of offending or re-offending. As the 1977 statistics above show, Caia Park was top of the priority for the I.T. team and, after a brief survey of young people in the area, it was found that - apart from the likelihood of going into care or incarceration - a common factor was that they had “nothing to do” within their communities. 

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Malcolm proposed an adventure playground as a more innovative and proactive approach to intermediary intervention. Engaging those targeted young people by creating a place for children to play, not only provided all the benefits that play does (more on that later), but it also enabled the I.T. team to work alongside the peers and siblings of the young people - in effect, heading several groups and individuals off at the pass.  

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The Venture was first established as the Wrexham Adventure Playground Association (WAPA). Eventually, WAPA became The Venture - “’venture” being a common truncation of “adventure playground” in English. However, considering The Venture’s Welsh name “Y Fenter” - which directly translates to “The Enterprise” - our name is both a nod to the adventure playground movement, and to the initiative from which it originated. 

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In 1987, The Venture Child Development Centre offering a parent and toddler group. The following year, in 1988, in response to demand from local families, a playgroup was established. That playgroup has since developed into a fully-fledged Early Years Centre offering two part-time childcare sessions per day, Monday to Friday, during school term time as part of the Welsh Government’s ‘Flying Start’ programme for 2 - 3 year olds in certain parts of Wales.

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For more information visit our Early Years pages.

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