Kaleidoscope

Ogólne informacje

The Kaleidoscope was a Friday Club opening at 10pm until 6am. The aim was to provide a safe place for young people to attend after the pubs closed at 11pm. In Kingston there was a major problem of fights taking place in the town centre once the pubs shut. The name ‘Kaleidoscope’ came from the diversity of young people coming together, be they mods, rockers, teddy boys, hippies or Hells Angels they were welcome at the Kaleidoscope. The services Kaleidoscope developed came out of the needs of the young people. The hostel was born out of a disused church house. It was extremely basic, including the need for residents and staff to fill up the bath using buckets of water. In the late 1960s sex and drugs were at the height of fashion. The question was how to protect people. Kaleidoscope responded by organising a clinic for those attending the club. The clinic was held in the Minister’s office where either advice or treatment was provided. The services of Kaleidoscope grew in popularity and it became necessary to provide services to a broader range of people who were not necessarily members of the club. B y 1975 a new building had been designed and in 1977 the red brick church, hostel and club were opened. As a drug service Kaleidoscope was fairly unique in adopting a Harm Reduction approach to its work. Methadone was used to enable people to stabilise their drug use. By 1986 Kaleidoscope also introduced the first needle syringe exchange in the UK and was developing the first...