Forum Topic

The River of Life

In a web search I came across the excellent Thames Explorer site http://www.thames-explorer.org.uk/schools_&_education/progs_on_offer.htmlwhich involves young people in Isleworth, Strand-on-the-Green and Chiswick and areas further away in a coherent Thames study project.In view of the negative picture of some local youth the natural question is what is being done to encourage such positive contributions present in all youth and turn them away from the negative actions?  For instance the mural near Ealing road was produced by local children and has not been vandalised.What is the success of the Hounslow street football scheme and participation $?Similarly what is the success rate of the community Watermans projects?What are the other initiatives targeted at youth in Brentford? - in particular as regards the canal (have Brentford schools/children use the Elsive II boat)?- is there any take-up of Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme in Brentford?- in view of the lack of community/leisure/sports clubs for any age-group in Brentford are Brentford youth encouraged to participate in such clubs in nearby localities which support these activities such as Chiswick and Hounslow ...?I know of young criminals whose life has been transformed by sport.

Michael Fletcher ● 6411d5 Comments

Thank you Luke for your detailed and comprehensive list of youth activities in Brentford.  I think it's because of such groups and activities that we haven't a much larger problem with youth.  There aren't many crimes in Brentford.  There is very little vandalism and graffiti.  Brentford and Isleworth have huge council estates - I believe approching 60% of housing in Brentford is social - and we don't seem to have the level of crime etc that these statistics would indicate.But we should try harder.  When I go around Richmond Park I see sometimes hundreds of schoolchildren walking round it or having exercise classes or games there.  In Bushy Park, Hampton Court  on Saturdat at 9:00am there is a regular running event with primarily adults but also children.  In Twickenham I see around 20 toddlers in a walking 'bus' going to school flanked by adults.  On the Grand Union canal I see athe Elsive II packed with school children.  At Springfield Road off thge Uxbridge Road near Southall there purpose built elite football centre for youngsters and a cycling track.  I hope Brentford youngsters are participating in these facilities.So well done Hounslow and Luke and more strength to your efforts.

Michael Fletcher ● 6409d

It would be wrong to say that there is nothing going on in Brentford for our young people however it would be correct to say that there is not enough going on.There has been no central focus for youth work in Brentford since the Brentford Youth Club closed down some time in the early 1990's I think. There is a desire to rectify this and indeed it is an ambition of the council to do this as stated in the Community Plan, Children's Plan and local area priorities. hopefully we will see movement on this in the comming year.So what does happen in Brentford now? We have the Brentford Boating Club that runs canoeing sessions both at its new base under the arches at Kew Bridge and on the canal in Brentford. Two youth nights are run on our estates. One at the Mission Hall on the Haverfield estate run by the Positive Futures Team (Part of Brentford Football Clubs Community Sports Trust, BFCCST)who also run regular multi sports sessions at the Pits on the Towers estate and table tennis sessions from Griffin Park. The LBH Youth Service run an evening session at the Clayponds Community Centre. Local churches also run youth nights. There is also plenty of martial arts clubs thriving in variuos community settings including the Mission Hall, Clayponds and the Methodist Church.We have the 6th Brentford Scout group operating out of thier hut near the Butts and the alumni(sp) dance group based at the watermans.During the Holidays we see much more activities with the Floodlight Street Soccer programme run by BFCCST and the CiP Play team who run holiday events.We also have one day events across Brentford aimed at children and young people including the event run by us at West Play with many partners including the Brentford Community Network, The Great Brentford Picnic a celebration of National Play Day. Many Residents Associations also run fun days.There are also Play clubs on both the Haverfield and Syon estates. On the Haverfield run by the APPLE organisation and on the Syon Estate by local residents.The Brentford Toy Library also runs sessions based at St Pauls Church.On top of these you also get the one off projects like the new mural at Charlton House organised by the Residents Association with support from us at West Play and in partnership with the Youth Service and Watermans.Hopefully we will be seeing much more develop over the next two years as both the voluntary/community sector and the statutory sector get together to stratagies and action more things for our young peole to do and places for them to go.As has been mentioned before under funding of the Youth Service in this Borough (4th lowest funded in the country last time I checked) will mean that delivery of services will have to come from the local community. The only other option is to sit around and hope that something happens.

Luke Kirton ● 6410d

"I can tell you that many of our secondary schools have a great deal of participation in the DoE Award scheme and very successful they are too"Excellent Vanessa.  I hope those who succeed are given adequate publicity to become role models.  I'm just listening to a Radio4 program where in Korea schoolchild computer "nerds" are given the status of heroes when they win games competitions.  These are the role models for children there."filling in copious forms to apply for money to keep going"Thgat's the same story all over the UK.  People who know what to put on lottery applications must be like gold dust.  But the first stage is to get something going on a voluntary basis and demonstrate success. Compared to neighbouring localities like Chiswick, Twickenham and Hounslow there seems hardly any sports, leisure or cultural clubs in Brentford.  And these don't need Government funding to start just enthusiastic interest from members.

Michael Fletcher ● 6410d

I agree with Vanessa on this one. Hounslow has one of the most successful Duke of Edinburgh's Award Schemes in the country - so much so that it is used as a model for other authorities to emulate. Similarly, Hounslow's Youth Service is extremely high quality - in 2006 it was one of only a handful of Youth Services nationally to achieve a "Good" in its Ofsted Inspection. Its problem is that, despite the high quality of its work in general, because of the lack of resources, its coverage is very sketchy. As Vanessa pointed out - even when funds become available, they are often short-term. Youth work, like any other educational process needs to be long term and consistent to succeed. You wouldn't offer a "failing" child a 6 week school place and expect the teachers to turn him/her around academically in that time, neither should you expect miracles from youth workers struggling under such conditions.

Mick Brent ● 6410d

It would also help if the budget for youth projects wasn't slashed year after year by the Council, and that any other funding wasn't so piecemeal with a short-term lifespan. Any funding needs to be constant and viable, half the time of people working in this area is taken up with filling in copious forms to apply for money to keep going - madness when the National Lottery is sitting on millions unclaimed. I can tell you that many of our secondary schools have a great deal of participation in the DoE Award scheme and very successful they are too.

Vanessa Smith ● 6410d