Team to clean and green Everton

LIVERPOOL’S Respect campaign to tackle crime and grime across the city arrived in Everton on Monday, 16 March 2009.

The week of action has see all of the public and voluntary organisations in the area coming together to clean up grot spots, clear litter, tackle crime and anti social behaviour and provide residents with help finding jobs and training opportunities.

With high visibility patrols from officers on quad bikes, a mobile police station touring the area and environmental improvements made by young offenders as part of a community payback scheme, Everton looks set to shine.

Thnrough out this week there will also be a host of leisure and sporting activities taking place including football, netball, table tennis and snooker.

The week was officially launched on Monday morning, when all the partners involved come together outside the ASDA superstore on Breckfield Road to celebrate the start of the campaign.

Other highlights include pupils from Whitefield Primary school performing a play about Respect which will be performed in front of the whole school on Wednesday, 18 March 2009.

The week will culminate in a celebration and awards event for young people at Albion House Youth Centre on Saturday, 21 March 2009.

Councillor Marilyn Fielding, Executive Member for Safer, Stronger Communities, said:- “Our Respect programme has been a tremendous success over the last year. It is making a real difference to areas right across the city and improving life for people in the community. The co-operation between different organisations is building a lasting partnership which will benefit the community long after the week is over.”

The Everton Respect week of action is the last in a series of nine for 2008/9 which have taken place across the city since last summer.

Councillor Berni Turner, Executive Member for the Environment, added:- “In our Year of the Environment we are more determined than ever to make all parts of the city clean and green. This initiative will make a huge impact on the area and there will be all sorts of activity happening right across both wards.”

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Children sing out against violence

MORE than 300 children in Liverpool are coming together to record an anti-violence song which will be released as a single.

The recording at Liverpool Lighthouse in Anfield on Thursday, 19 March 2009 as part of a project called:- “You’re the Voice”.

It uses the hit song by John Farnham to inspire young people to stand up against gun and gang culture and be positive role models.

The project, funded the city’s gun crime prevention partnership DISARM, is coordinated by Liam Moore, a local singer who performed on the TV programme ‘Stars in their Eyes’ as Phil Collins.

It was established in the wake of the murder of Rhys Jones and is focused in Croxteth and Norris Green, the two neighbourhoods affected by the tragedy.

Earlier this month the pupils performed the song for city councillors at Liverpool Town Hall.

Councillor Marilyn Fielding, Executive Member for Safer, Stronger Communities, said:- “This is a really inspiring project which sends out a strong message to the tiny minority of people who use weapons and violence that their behaviour will not be tolerated. The young people taking part in this project are speaking for the entire community and the whole city should be proud of them.”

Liam Moore said:- “The programme aims to prepare the next generation to reject the notion of gang culture and to see such involvement as a real threat to their families, friends, neighbours and community. It aims to foster respect for the police and to reinforce the fact that gang culture is the real enemy to a safe and thriving community.”

The project has engaged all 6,000 pupils in every school in Croxteth and Norris Green, and 25 from each of the dozen schools involved are coming together to record the CD.

Also present at the recording will be Lord Mayor Steve Rotheram, community representatives and a senior Merseyside Police
officer.

The recording will be the catalyst for the launch in April of the “Voice in the City” programme.

It will promote positive citizenship and community cohesion through workshops in poetry, music, photography, performing arts, writing, sport and leisure activities.

Liam Moore added:- “We hope that enough people will support this remarkable group of children and young people and download this prophetic song to send it to number one in the charts. That way we can send a clear message to the minority who seek to destroy our communities that we will no longer tolerate their behaviour.”

It is hoped that the success of the work in Norris Green and Croxteth will act as a catalyst to enable the programme to go city wide in the near future.

Money raised from the sale of the single will be used to fund community projects.

For more details about You’re the Voice visit:- www.myspace.com/thevoice2008.