About Us

What The YMCA Wants To Achieve

We all need to feel OK about ourselves, be valued by others, and to feel we belong.

The YMCA wants every person to feel a sense of:

• value and purpose - enjoying a growing self-esteem and confidence
• belonging and trust - with a sense of a future
• growth and development - positive relationships with family, friends, and the wider community

The YMCA wants people to be the best that they can be - in mind, body and spirit.

A common thread runs through all of the YMCA's work: a passion to promote positive personal growth and build healthy communities - life in all its fullness, and fullness of life for all.

In the beginning

From small beginnings, the YMCA Movement has grown to become one of the biggest Christian charities in the world working in over 120 countries with 30 million members worldwide.

In 1844 the first association to be called a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was formed in London by George Williams and a small group of men in a small room above a shop in St Paul's churchyard in the heart of London.

The YMCA on the Fylde Coast was created in 1922. In December of that year HRH Helena Victoria officially opened The St Annes YMCA in St Albans Rd. Since that date the YMCA has been ever present in Lytham St Annes.

Vision Statement

Fylde Coast Y.M.C.A. will continue to provide a quality programme, which stimulates and challenges people, especially the young.

It will seek to identify opportunities to develop the range of quality services it provides for the local community with emphasis on leisure, catering, childcare, youth work, training and accommodation.

These services will be catered for in a caring, warm and friendly environment in buildings, which are of the highest standard.

The Y.M.C.A. will be recognised as a family community centre, which is part of the local community and in which all aspects of its operations are within the Christian ethos of the Y.M.C.A. movement.

Mission Statement

Fylde Coast Y.M.C.A is part of a world-wide Christian Movement whose central aim is to enable young people and other members of the community to achieve their full physical, social and cultural and spiritual potential.

At its heart are Christians who are committed to meeting the needs of all sections of the local community regardless of sex, race, ability or faith.

Core Values

• To operate to the highest standards ethically and professionally.
• To be a caring community who overtly seeks to fulfil the Christian aims and purposes of the Y.M.C.A.
• To respond professionally and sensitively to the need of young people.
• To provide a meeting place with a warm welcome.
• To live peacefully in and contribute positively to a multi-cultural society.
• To help people to develop their own spiritual strengths.
• To be innovative in outlook and in meeting the needs of the community.
• To provide opportunities for growth to develop skills and confidence.
• To increase awareness of other aspects of the Y.M.C.A., regionally, nationally and internationally.