What a Catch!

Shoreline threw a line to young people in North East Lincolnshire with the launch of a new youth diversionary project.

Get Hooked on Fishing is a sustainable angling project for young people aged between 8 and 19, funded by Shoreline Housing Partnership and managed by the Integrated Young People’s Support Service.

The project, based at Homestead Park, Immingham uses angling as an engagement tool to combat social exclusion and divert young people away from anti-social behaviour, truancy and youth crime.

The project programme incorporates intensive angling workshops and sessions that improve young people’s literacy and numeracy skills, teach environmental issues and lead to personal and social development.

The project has been awarded over £180,000 of funding over the next three years thanks to a Shoreline Investment Grant.

The project has a strong emphasis on mentoring and licensed qualified coaches and project staff deliver practical and theory instruction to the young people taking part, as well as acting as mentors and positive role models.

Young people who have completed the programme will have access to support and the opportunity to provide public angling sessions or become peer mentors to other young people engaged in the project.

Partnership agencies within the community and voluntary sector identify and refer young people who are socially excluded, potentially involved in anti-social behaviour or at risk of offending, to the project.

The Get Hooked on Fishing project manages referrals in close consultation with Shoreline Housing Partnership’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Shoreline Neighbourhood Officers.

Partnerships have also been established with Foresight and Cromwell House to ensure that people with visual impairments or disabilities have access to the facility.

Those taking part and adult volunteers will have the opportunity to gain nationally recognised qualifications.

As well as providing activities for targeted participants the project also offers opportunities for the wider community. The project has improved facilities at Homestead Park and engages the wider community in angling and environmental projects with the availability of public membership and day ticket use of the facility.

The Environment Agency is a key partner in the project and Environmental Agency Technical Officer Rueben Page has provided the project with educational material and expert advice about the lake.

Shoreline Regeneration Officer Phil Thames has supported the project from the beginning, he said: “Shoreline is proud to support this project. We are investing a large sum of money over a three-year period, which reflects the importance we place on tackling anti-social behaviour in an imaginative way and in partnership with other agencies, such as those involved in the Get Hooked on Fishing project.

“Disaffected young people taking part in this project will learn new skills and knowledge about fishing, sustainability and the environment. This project will engage young people at risk of becoming involved in anti-social behaviour or who are at risk of being socially excluded.”

Get Hooked on Fishing Co-ordinator Mark Fenty said: “Because of the calm nature of angling as an activity, it offers a much wider and life long opportunity to participants than some other “hi octane” projects. Young people are able to develop new skills through a structured and tailored manner to suit the individual. The skills and knowledge that they learn help them to gain confidence and build their self esteem.”

Get Hooked on Fishing is a national charity which acts as an umbrella organisation for 10 Get Hooked on Fishing regional projects across the country. The trust has a successful track record in using angling as an engagement tool to carry out positive and meaningful work with young people. The trust aims to have a total of 30 projects in place by 2010 throughout the UK.

Immingham Spring Clean

New bins, a community clean-up and increased environmental awareness in schools are contributing to a cleaner, brighter Immingham this Easter.

Nearly thirty new bins have been installed in primary schools and across Immingham over the last week after Shoreline Housing Partnership, North East Lincolnshire Council, Extended Schools, the Reedmeer Tenant and Resident Association and MAGIIC (Making a great impact in the Immingham Community) responded to calls to reduce the amount of litter on the streets and increase environmental awareness in schools.

The bins, funded by Awards for All, each feature a winning logo by Eve Vickers (9) and Afton-Chloe Boswell (10) from Eastfield Junior School and their slogan ‘Bin it in it!’ after the pair won an Extended Schools competition last year to come up with a  design.

To commemorate the installation representatives from Shoreline and partnering agencies presented a framed copy of the design to the school and its winning pupils.

And now that Spring is in the air the community have decided to come together and organise a clean-up day for Wednesday April 11, 2007. For more details see the front page of the website.

On your bike!

Wheels really do go round and round at Western Primary School as unwanted bicycles get recycled as part of a youth engagement programme.

Young people at the school have been given the opportunity to take part in a project that develops their skills and gets them fit as well as improves the environment and quality of life of the neighbourhood.

Shoreline has provided over £4000 of funding for the project through their Community Investment Fund.

Those taking part in the activity have learnt how to build and maintain mostly unwanted cycles, many of which have been cleared from the estate.

Some of the recycled bikes are now being used by the children themselves and some have been donated to local charities and local families.

It is hoped that many of the older children who complete the programme will stay on to mentor the younger children taking part.

 

Woodlands schoolgirl wins community safety competition

Woodlands schoolgirl Katy Taylor came up with the name ‘Make the Neighbourhood Better’ for the new community service centre.

Working in partnership with Nunsthorpe Forward and Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park Extended Schools, children from Nunsthorpe Community School and Woodlands School were invited to come up with a name and logo for the new centre.

Janet Cowan, Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park Extended Schools Coordinator explained to the children what the project is hoping to achieve and asked them to come up with a name for the building and design a logo.

More than 35 entries were received from the schools and each entrant received a £5 Freshney Voucher from Nunsthorpe Forward through North East Lincolnshire Safer Communities. 

Winner Katy, who produced a colourful logo and the name ‘Make the Neighbourhood Better’, received a £20 Freshney Voucher and her winning name and logo is used on the building.

Football fever sweeps the Yarborough

Yarborough youngsters were on the ball when it came to finding plenty to do during the summer holidays.

Local residents asked for more activities in the neighbourhood, so Shoreline arranged for coaching organisation Football in the Community to deliver a four-week course of free sessions for Yarborough children.

The coaching sessions, which took place during the World Cup, proved a great success, with more than 30 children turning up for the first session.

Shoreline also organised for goalposts to be installed on the playing fields at St Mawes Crescent so young people had an area to play football rather than having to play on the streets. The coaching sessions developed interest further and it is hoped that the Yarborough estate may create its very own football team.

Shoreline Regeneration Officer John Manton who supported the project from the very beginning said:  “The football coaching sessions on the Yarborough were set up following a request by local children and residents to organise activities within the neighbourhood.

“The project provided young people within the Yarborough community with something to do. The sessions were very well supported and everyone who took part enjoyed the activity.”

Photograph: Football in the Community coaches, Shoreline Regeneration Officer John Manton, Shoreline Board member Dave Wilkins and Yarborough youngsters gear up for their free football session.

Nunsthorpe’s summer holiday fun

Young people on the Nunsthorpe enjoyed a fun-packed summer of activities thanks to a Neighbourhood Grant from Shoreline Housing Partnership.

Nunsthorpe Forward had a programme of summer holiday events that provided a range of creative and sporting activities for young people giving them the opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and keep fit.

Shoreline provided £5,000 of funding for the project, which was also supported by agencies including Second Avenue Resource Centre, the Community Youth Programme, Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park Full Service Extended Schools and Humberside Police.

Young people aged up to 18 were invited to take part in the activities, which included football coaching, sailing, snooker, hair and beauty lessons, street dance, DJ workshops and raft building as well as family visits to Skegness, Whitgift Film Theatre, Hubbards Hills and York.

The project ran from July until September, 2006 at a range of venues across Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park, including Woodlands Primary School, Second Avenue Resource Centre, Nunsthorpe Young Peoples’ Centre, The Children’s Centre and Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park Library.

The Nunsthorpe Forward Summer Holiday Fun programme was the second summer holiday initiative to receive funding from Shoreline’s Neighbourhood Grant scheme. Last summer, Shoreline helped to fund the successful Freshney Forward project for young people on the Willows.

Nunsthorpe and Woodlands Extended Schools Coordinator Janet Cowan helped organise the project. She said: “The programme provided a relief from school holiday boredom by providing a range of activities and visits that young people and their families could get involved in.

“We had a fantastic response from local families and everyone in the community enjoyed taking part in the activities on offer.”