27 January 2023

YMCA Yorkshire Coast which includes YMCA Scarborough and YMCA Theatre is excited to announce Liam Downey as the new General Manager. The senior management team with Liam at the helm are ready to take YMCA from survival mode to Recovery mode and eventual growth.

During the post-pandemic recovery, the management team have worked incredibly hard to keep the YMCA afloat and without the detailed supporters and volunteers this would not be possible. It is now time to rebuild and grow to ensure we are in a place to still support the young people of Scarborough and the Yorkshire Coast for years to come.

Liam has been chosen after a rigorous selection and interview process and came into post on the 1st of January. Liam is just shy of his thirtieth birthday and exemplifies a key YMCA principle that vision, experience and knowledge count not age.

Stephen Slade, Chair of the Board, said “The whole management team have done excellent work in keeping the YMCA in Scarborough running, we are now ready for the next steps if we are still going to be in a position to support young people in the future. I am very excited to have Liam in the role and we look forward to seeing positive change in the future.”

Liam said “I am very thankful to be given this position, I believe that together we will rebuild and grow the YMCA so more young people’s needs are met across the coast. YMCA has a very special place in my heart, this is my fifteenth year involved with the YMCA and my only wish is that more people experience the good work that we do and that we make a real difference in people’s lives. Everyone deserves the right to discover who they are and what they can become.”

Liam started as a volunteer in the Theatre when he was 14/15 and has been involved ever since, even travelling into Scarborough from Middlesbrough during his years at University every weekend to still be involved.

“I’d especially like to thank Graham Ibbotson the Theatre Manager at YMCA Theatre. I would, along with many young people, not be where I am today without his guidance and counsel over the years. I look forward to working with him as we look to the future”