Children of the 70s and 80s are coming from thousands of miles away to celebrate a Stevenage youth club that has a special place in their hearts.

Former members of the Timebridge Club are coming from as far away as America, to a reunion at the Chells neighbourhood club on July 30.

Steve Byrne, a member in the mid 70s to early 80s, organised the reunion for what he called “a second home to many of the kids in Stevenage at the time”.

“Back in 1975 I was 12-years-old and did all the usual 12-year-old stuff. Then a friend who lived nearby asked if I wanted to go to the youth club were his mum worked to see what it was like. I had never been to a youth club before so didn’t really know what to expect. Little did I know Timebridge would be the place where I would grow up. Nor did I realise that 10 years on I would still be involved in Timebridge, helping out voluntarily and running a very successful mobile disco on the back of it.

“As a 12-year-old going to a disco on a school night seemed a very grown up thing to do. I made some great friends and would meet up with them whenever Timebridge was open.

“Timebridge holds so many memories for so many people. You often hear comments like ‘it keeps kids off the streets’, which it did, but it was so much more. There was many a friendship forged while playing on the pinball machine with Spandau Ballet or Kajagoogoo playing in the background, and I know of some who met their wives and husbands there. I met my wife there.

“I am hoping to get as many people who went to the club in the late 70s and early 80s back together along with some of the people who worked there. The people that ran Timebridge did a fantastic job of looking after us teenagers. It’s a shame that youth clubs today don’t have the popularity they did back in the 80s. It’s a shame they are young – they missed it.”

Tickets for the event are on sale from the youth club, priced �5.