After spending over 50 years as a youth worker, Bill Cox has passed away at the age of 83. A founder member of the Federation for Detached Youth Work, Cox became an MBE recipient in 2014 for his outstanding contributions to the field. Cox worked as a detached youth worker with the Merseyside Youth Association (MYA) from 1974, which supports young people in environments such as on the streets, in parks and in shopping centres. By the 1980s, he served as a senior field worker at the MYA. He also provided training for volunteers involved in youth work across the county as well as continuing to support charities, including the Federation for Detached Youth Work which he co-founded in 1996.
Born in Liverpool during the Second World War, Cox grew up in a family of four children, the first born to Elsie and William Cox. He went to Dingle Vale secondary modern school and then Everard Avenue technical school. Beginning in the 1950s, Cox worked as an apprentice silk screen printer, before volunteering at the Queens Road youth club, where he formed a band called the Tropics. Alongside leading as a youth worker, Cox performed at music venues such as the Cavern Club and recorded an EP in the Percy Phillips recording studio in Kensington, Liverpool while leading the Plazzy Bags as their lead singer.
Cox married Shirley Taylor in 1964; they had two sons together, Billy and Tim, before the marriage ended in divorce. In 1978, he married Jude Wild, a youth worker as well, who documented their work together in a book named Street Mates in 1982. She survives Cox, along with their two sons, four grandchildren, and his siblings Bryan, Linda, and Ann.
The Federation for Detached Youth Work continues to support young people in various areas of the UK. The efforts of Cox to launch the organization more than two decades ago gave birth to many other similar initiatives. Cox’s contributions and dedication to improving the lives of young people have made a significant impact across Merseyside and beyond. He will be remembered for the impact he made during his tenured career as a youth worker
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