Warwickshire News Mine

The Positive about Young People Celebration, which took place at Bedworth Civic Hall, featured performances by young people from across Warwickshire who are all taking part in projects to tackle disaffection and youth crime.

The performances ranged from a rock act called Mental Attitude, which has been set up to promote young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health, to rap group Streets R Watching, who have been singing about the dangers of drugs. Other performers included Racing Club Warwick who wowed the audience with a scene from Bugsy Malone and the Young Firefighters Association who gave a drill demonstration, thankfully for the audience, with buckets of paper rather than water.

Keresley Newland Primary School performed their own take on the fairy tale Cinderella to help teach young people the difference between right and wrong while Beat n Trax from Nuneaton’s Hub 119 impressed the crowd with their newly composed musical ‘Annabella Twinkle’. The young people from Beat n Trax wrote the songs, created the dances and even made props to put the show together.

Warwickshire County Council’s Positive about Young People (PaYP) team had further reason to celebrate as they have recently been awarded gold standards from Warwickshire Children’s Fund. The Warwickshire Award for Involvement is a kite mark, developed by the fund, and judges the team’s capacity to work through the three levels – bronze, silver and gold – by making improvements such as improving evaluation and ensuring that young people have an input into decision making within the services.

Positive about Young People (PaYP) is a partnership between Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Police. The programme helps young people by giving them something positive to do and feel part of their communities. Last summer alone, ‘Positive about Young People’ ran over 60 summer holiday programmes in sports, music, IT and more, which benefited thousands of young people across the county including those with special needs.

Michael Maguire, Head of Positive about Young People for Warwickshire County Council, said: “Young people are at the forefront of all that we do and we are pleased that so many of them joined in our celebration through their performances, showcasing an element of the many successes achieved throughout the county.”

Positive about Young People has a number of partners including the police, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, Crimebeat, Prince’s Trust, Youth and Community Service, theatres, schools, PODs, and other community organisations involved with young people.

Link to WCC