A youth project which has supported thousands of children over nearly 25 years will close its doors for the last time at the end of the month after it failed to secure funding.

Barnet Action 4 Youth, based on the Grahame Park estate, worked with police and the borough’s secondary schools to provide activities for young people across Barnet to help prevent them from getting involved in crime.

Part of the charity Catch22, it was funded for many years by Barnet council and Barnet police, along with lottery grants.

But budget cuts over the past few years meant the project had to rely on grants from the European Social Fund and Greater London Authority ‘payment by results’ contracts.

Due to the most recent contract coming to an end, and no other funding secured, the service has now had to close.

Former manager Alison Kira, who worked at the project for 15 years until last November, said she was sad to see it go.

Ms Kira said: “It is so sad such a fantastic service is closing. It happened so suddenly. I think it is a huge loss. It follows a number of other services that have been cut during the last five years.

“In the 15 years I was there, it was easily 10,000 young people we helped. We did stuff around gangs and weapons, and how to stay safe on the streets. Anything to do with young people, we would address it. They made lots of short films over the years. Princess Anne came to visit.”

Ms Kira added: “Mostly the young people were just victims of their circumstances. A lot of the work we were doing was because of that. The shift moved to become an education focus. There is a direct link between being excluded from school and crime.

“All of the work now is just the statutory side of things, and no one is doing the preventative work. There is a huge gap.”

Launched by Margaret Thatcher in 1991 as the Barnet Crime Reduction Partnership, part of the organisation Crime Concern, it was chaired by Dennis Signy, former editor of the Times Series, until 2001.

In 2001, it was renamed Barnet Action 4 Youth, and in 2005, Crime Concern merged with another charity and became Catch22.

Senior project worker Michelle Allen, who has worked there for nine years, said: “I have enjoyed working across most of the secondary schools in the borough with a wide variety of young people and various organisations. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to be at the forefront on innovative projects to help support young people to remain in education and support them to raise their future aspirations.

“Two events that stick out for me are meeting HRH Princess Anne to showcase our young people’s work, and being invited to Parliament to highlight the great work of our young people in Barnet. It is a great project and will be sadly missed by many. Thank you to all the staff, volunteers, young people, families and organisations that have allowed me to be a part of their lives during this time.”

Chris Wright, chief executive of Catch22, said: “It is with great regret that we are announcing the closure of our North London Education Service.

“We would like to thank our staff for their invaluable work supporting young people to remain and progress in education. When surveyed, 95 per cent of young people who used the service said our support had made them happier with their lives.

“Catch22 is really pleased to have made such a significant impact and we hope that this legacy will continue to be felt by the young people, their families and the wider community.”