Minshaws at Race Retro Show
Photographs and report by Craig Boon..

VISITOR to the Race Retro show held at Stoneleigh near Coventry were greeted by the site of Alan and Jason Minshaw's gleaming Maserati as they entered Hall 1. The car was on display on the stand presented by "Octane Magazine" resplendent with its racing Liverbird logo which appears on all the Merseyside based racers' cars.

Other cars on display include a celebration of the E-Type Jaguars 50th Anniversary and historic racing cars from Formula 1, Rally and Endurance racing - spread over 4 walls with a huge auto-jumble and a live Rally stage on the Saturday and Sunday the show had something for petrol heads of all ages.

YOUNG SPIELBERGS PRODUCE AN ANTI GUNCRIME FILE

YOUNG film makers from De La Salle Academy, in Croxteth, are celebrating after winning first prize for a hard hitting movie about gangs and gun crime.

Pupils from De La Salle Academy and Kirkby Sports College were asked by Merseyside Police to produce a three-minute film using video cameras to dissuade their peers from joining gangs and highlight the dangers of carrying and using a gun. The competition is part of a campaign to raise awareness among young people across Merseyside. The short films will be posted on the Merseyside Police website and You Tube.

Judges from Merseyside Police’s Matrix team and Marketing department were impressed by the students’ creativity and noted that entries were of a consistently high standard.

The team of pupils from De La Salle Academy were awarded the top prize for their video, "A Price to Pay". They receive £200 for their school and get to keep the video equipment they used for the project. The team at Kirkby Sports College were awarded runner-up prize for their entry, "The Package" and received a donation in recognition of their contribution. All the entries were judged on content, creativity, effectiveness and distribution.

The Year 11 team at De La Salle Academy - which consisted of Jak Flanagan, Daniel Coleman, Ellis Brice, Michael Doyle, Michael Windle and Connor Green - chose a hard-hitting storyline in their video to try and influence the behaviour of other young people.

Academy Principal Patrick Ferguson said:- "We are proud of our young film-makers who showed great dedication in creating these hard-hitting and compelling films with a serious message for all young people across Merseyside."

The new De La Salle Academy has a Media specialism and the films produced will contribute to the students’ Media Studies GCSE coursework.

"This is an example of how Media can be used to engage young people in education and communicate important issues that affect us all." added Mr Ferguson.

Student Connor Day said:- "Making this film gave me a greater understanding of the processes involved. I'd like to develop these Media skills at 6th form and university."

Fellow film-maker Callum Green added:- "The film was important for teenagers like us because it gives out a message that violence can escalate over the smallest of things - making it very easy to be pulled into gun crime."

The viral video schools competition is part of a wider Merseyside Police Gun Crime campaign and the videos produced by the schools were aimed at young people under the age of 18.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable, Tony Doherty said:- "This project has been a great success. I was overwhelmed by the high quality of both videos and the innovative, hard-hitting approaches used by the students to get key messages about gun crime across to their peers. Using groups of young people to act as role models to influence other young people is invaluable. It was evident that a lot of hard work and effort had been put into the project and feedback from the pupils who were involved was very positive."