10:46am Wednesday 25th April 2001
A host of activities, funded by a Government grant for youth crime prevention, kept kids off the streets over the Easter holidays.
Canoeing, basket ball and football coaching, moped riding, car driving skills, first aid courses, internet access, website building, DJing and crafts were among some of the pastimes at Waddon Youth Club's splash scheme funded with a £4,000 grant from the Youth Justice Board.
Investment in youth crime prevention was upped by the Government last year when £2.1 million was made available for similar school holiday schemes nationally.
Norman Warner, the Board's chairman, said early results showed holiday schemes targeted at young people at risk of becoming involved in crime have had a significant impact on reducing youth crime levels.
He said: “It makes sense to target areas where youngsters have little to do. School holiday periods mean youngsters are unsupervised for long periods.
“Without constructive activities it is too easy for groups of teenagers to fall into nuisance or anti-social behaviour.”
Activities at the Waddon Way club aimed to provide young people with opportunities to learn in ways they might not otherwise have access to.
Youth Offending Teams have been set up across England and Wales to deliver new co-ordinated youth justice services.
In Croydon the project ran at Parchmore Youth Centre for the first time last year. This time, the two-week programme ran daily events from 1pm to 6pm for 50p a day.
Croydon's cabinet member for education, Councillor Louisa Woodley, said: “By taking part in the project at Waddon, young people have the opportunity to develop interests in new activities, which they can pursue over the rest of the year.”
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