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Intergenerational event – Shipley

The young people of Shipley constituency felt that there was a need to break down the barriers between young and elderly people in society and the Shipley MYPs took it upon themselves to address these issues. They organised a meeting to take place between MYPs and young people from Shipley and surrounding areas along with a selection of elderly people which took place in the Shipley Council Chambers. They discussed reasons as to why there was a lack of integration between young people and elderly people and discussed strategies to increase understanding between the two and eliminate negative stereotypes. Both the elderly members of the meeting and the Shipley young people and MYPs felt that the meeting was a great success and helped MYPs to understand methods to increase the fluidity of interaction between the sections of society.

Knife crime event - South

One of Bradford South's priorities was to reduce knife crime, in response to this young people ran a district wide knife crime conference on 5th August 2010 called “Stand Up Against Knife Crime", including a competition for young people to perform an anti-knife crime song, rap or poem.

The event was supported by West Yorkshire Police who had a stall and delivered a hard hitting presentation around the facts and reality of knife crime and what the consequences are. Several workshops were also delivered on the day, including drama workshops that focussed on how knife crime not only affects the people directly involved, but also ripples outwards towards friends, mums, dads, brothers and sisters.

Other workshops that ran include positive graffiti boards, anti knife crime bracelets, and anti knife crime T-Shirt design. The T-shirts were very successful. Young people were invited to design their own T-Shirts or use an pre made iron on with slogans such as:

1. “Don’t shank, just Skank”
2. “Knife crime has 2 stop”
3. “Knives ruin lives”

Here is a sample of some of the feedback received.

1.  “Carrying a knife doesn’t make you man.”
2. “I’ve learnt that even if you haven’t touched anyone, if your mates get caught using knives, you are in as much trouble as them.”
3. "I never thought about how knife crime affects everyone's family, not just the victims.”