Published: Tuesday, 13th May, 2008 16:30
Kids aim to give area facelift
By Russell Steele
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LEFT RUN-DOWN: Chris McTiernan in Gladiator park.
COMMUNITY-minded kids from Greenock’s east end are leading a new project designed to give their area a facelift.
They are the driving force behind the east end streetreach initiative — which will see a taskforce get to grips with run-down playparks and improve the environment for everyone in the area.
The scheme was inspired after a group of youngsters visited Belfast last year with East End Parish youth worker Chris McTiernan and took part in a similar exercise there.
Chris said: “We had 11 young people helping with street clean-ups, graffiti removal and repainting murals in Northern Ireland and they had a great time.
“When they came back they thought ‘why not here?’ They even have a slogan for their project — ‘Dream, Believe, Do’.
The five youngsters, Taylor McMillan, 13, Andrew Cameron, 15, Emma Taylor, 16, Craig Carter, 12, and Nicole Montgomery, 16, are now planning a revamp of the rundown ‘gladiator’ playpark near Craigend Resource Centre, which is frequently strewn with needles and broken glass.
The group will also organise a clean-up and bulb-planting scheme in the Auchmountain neighbourhood, arrange concert nights and hold a community fun day.
They have carried out leaflet drops to sign up volunteers for their ambitious project, which will be held between 2 and 5 July.
Chris said: “We need volunteers of every age from 12 upwards. We want the whole community involved.
“It shouldn’t be hard to get 100 people spilling out into the east end to work on this. We are also speaking to the council, because we really need their backing if we want to leave something which people can be proud of.”
Volunteers will be given child protection and health and safety training before the project starts and everyone who works on it will receive a Streetreach T-shirt.
To sign up, call in to Craigend Resource Centre and leave your name and contact details.
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