Youngsters urged to develop projects to help make North Yorkshire a safer place (From York Press)

Youngsters urged to develop projects to help make North Yorkshire a safer place

8:08am Friday 20th November 2009

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CHILDREN and young people have the chance to make North Yorkshire safer thanks to a new fund being launched tonight by the Queen’s representative in legal affairs.

The High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, Francesca Horsfield, and at least one of her predecessors, will join leading business and social figures from the county at Duncombe Park, near Helmsley, tonight, for a concert and reception.

Called the High Sheriff Of North Yorkshire Fund, it will support children and young people in developing their own projects to reduce crime and increase general safety in their neighbourhoods.

In addition, every project will have a chance to win a £1,000 county award and compete against the very best in the country.

Mark Shepherd, of the Shepherd Group, said: “The Shepherd Group very much support young people engaging with their local communities and helping each other to stay out of trouble so we were delighted to contribute to the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire Fund as the projects they support through Crimebeat are great examples of this. Furthermore, recognising exceptional contributions by volunteers of all ages through the awarding of High Sheriff certificates is a excellent new idea.”

Tonight’s event will feature a concert by the award-winning Barbershopera group from the Edinburgh Fringe.

High Sheriffs past and present will be actively involved in the fund, which will seek to find children and young people eager to equal the success of Crucial Crew, a North Yorkshire group of teenagers who won a national award for their Internet Safety scheme.

As part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, they ran nearly 100 workshops for at least 1,400 children on how to be safe on the internet and designed mouse mats available from North Yorkshire libraries giving golden rules for internet safety. The fund, which will continue to run after the current High Sheriff hands over the office next spring, has two main purposes: to support and help people in North Yorkshire to develop their own positive crime prevention schemes in their local communities, and to give annual awards celebrating the best of North Yorkshire’s volunteers.

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