Charlie Barrett IT has been helping the borough s most at risk and disaffected young people for 20 years but now Harmony Youth Project is fighting for survival after its funding bid was thrown out. Charlie Barrett, who set up the Halliwell-based project to ensure all young people are given a chance to fulfil their potential, said: We are on knees now. We have received this grant from Bolton Council for 15 years and now the council have given Bolton CVS the responsibility of distributing their funding. This is the first year that this has happened and we have not received any of the funding.
. Harmony Youth Project will have helped youngsters across Bolton and the North West for 20 years in May. However, the CEO of the Halliwell-based charity has warned that the pandemic has had a devastating impact on the organisation. Charlie Barrett established Harmony Youth Project with the aim of engaging with young people and introducing them to useful skills, particularly with music-based activities. Charlie said: “It’s been a huge part of my life, it’s been an incredible journey and I genuinely feel like a millionaire. “It’s such a privilege to work with these creative young people. “Wherever I am in Bolton I always bump into someone who was involved with the group. But the past eight years have been really, really hard.