Staying Safe

“Being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after themselves” (Every Child Matters)

The Crew Club seeks to keep young people safe and to improve the quality of life for the whole community.

Club nights

Club nights take place four nights a week and provide a safe place for young people to meet their friends and take part in pool tournaments, music sessions, quizzes, sports and games. The Club keeps young people off the streets and engaged in positive activities, and is somewhere they can seek guidance and support for a whole range of issues.

The Crew Club is also the hub for weekend and holiday activities, providing young people with positive and safe ways to challenge themselves, learn and achieve.

Community safety

The Crew Club works in partnership with a range of local agencies to support young people and protect them from risk of involvement in crime or becoming the victims of crime.

The Crew Club helps educate young people about substance misuse and engages young people in projects to address issues such as antisocial behaviour, street drinking and youth offending.

The Club also supports young people whose families are affected by domestic violence. Staff help them deal with these issues and break out of the cycles of damaging behaviour that can lead to abuse being repeated through generations.

An innovative ‘buddies’ scheme gets younger members of the club involved in community safety through working alongside eb4U Neighbourhood Wardens. This project has been recognised nationally as an example of good practice.

Work is also underway to tackle issues such as bullying and racism to make the estate safer for all the young people who live there. The Club published a report in 2005 into the needs of black and ethnic minority young people living on the estate in a move to encourage their greater participation.

Independent research conducted amongst young people and parents in Whitehawk in 2004 showed that both groups felt the club had made a major contribution to improving community and personal safety.

“Without the Crew Club children would not have anywhere to go to keep them occupied and safe plus they would be roaming the streets doing nothing, getting bored and getting into trouble.”

Parent of Crew Club Member

The BB-Gun Fun Day was a high profile community event in summer 2005. Many BB-Guns and other weapons were handed in during an amnesty.

“ For a community to succeed change has to come from within.The work of the Crew Club epitomises all that is good in Whitehawk.”

Sergeant Tony Lumb, Sussex Police

Being Healthy

“Enjoying a good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle”

(Every Child Matters)

The Crew Club encourages young people to be active and healthy.

Sports and activities

Regular football and swimming sessions during term time help young people stay fit. Young people can also take a junior sports leader award, which qualifies them to organise and run sports activities for others.

Busy activity programmes during school holidays include go-karting, camping, mountain biking and climbing, football, dance and arts, tournaments, pool, swimming, crafts, skating, golf and much more. Some activities are run with other youth groups across the city and the summer programme always ends with a celebration involving young people, community groups, partner agencies and parents.

“I really enjoy the football at the club and it feels good when I score.”

Josh Hatton, aged 15.

Healthy lifestyles

A drop-in run by district nurses gives young people access to advice and support on a range of sexual health issues and the club also a chlaymdia testing service.

Young people can learn about health issues such as smoking, diet and exercise. Sessions such as the young women’s Well-Being programme for year 11girls at COMART school encourage young women care about their health and to feel good about themselves.

The Crew Club also helps tackle mental health problems by providing a safe, confidential space where young people can talk and be listened to by people they trust. This support helps young people face up to a whole range of issues they may have.

Support groups for young parents including separate sessions for young fathers and young mothers give young people support and advice and the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences.

More than 30 young people from the Crew Club took part in Its A Knockout, a community event involving some 100 residents, community workers and young people.

The Crew Club under 12’s football team won two of their four games in the Gothia World Youth Football Cup in Sweden. Some of the young people had never been abroad before and gained a huge amount from the experience.

Break-dancing is a fun way to keep fit and lessons with a local break-dancer proved very popular with young people learning back bending, head spinning and forward flipping.

Enjoying and Achieving

“Getting the most out of life and developing broad skills for adulthood”

(Every Child Matters)

Young people living on the Whitehawk estate experience above average levels of social and economic deprivation. The Crew Club gives them the opportunity to try new things and to realise their full potential.

Celebrating success

More than 240 young people, their parents, youth workers, community representatives, partners and officials from across the city attended a major showcase of the Crew Club’s work at the Brighton Centre in November 2004 [ 2005 AS WELL?]. A range of awards were presented, including the Brighton & Hove Youth Achievement Awards and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

90 young people achieved Bronze, 16 achieved Silver and 3 achieved Gold awards.

Certificates were also presented to those who had participated in the GOTHIA World Cup soccer in Sweden and to those who had completed a golf-induction training programme.

Young people entertained the audience with their break-dancing, singing, dancing and DJ skills. There was live music from club members and a solo dance performance.

Ricky Pumphrey, the Club’s Administrator and former Crew Club member, receives a commendation from New Deal for Communities for significant achievements in regeneration. Ricky is pictured here receiving his award from Regeneration Minister Lord Rooker in 2004.

“My favourite thing that we have done at the club was the Gothia Cup. The best part of it was the opening ceremony and the food; it was also really good to meet other young people from other parts of the world.”

Jack Puddick, age 13.

Two teams from the Crew Club attended Childaction, an outdoor activity day involving climbing, puzzle-solving and team building. They enjoyed competing against each other and developing new skills.

A number of Crew Club members joined young people from the Hove YMCA to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in 2004. The young people really enjoyed going on an expedition with an over night stay.

Representing young people

A group of young people went to France on a cultural exchange programme (for some their first time abroad), whilst others attended the first national New Deal for Communities youth conference in Middlesborough and did presentations about the Crew Club

Making a Positive Contribution

“…to the community and to society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour”

(Every Child Matters)

The Crew Club seeks to forge links within the local community and across the city to promote better community relations and greater integration between young people and the wider community.

Community events

The Crew Club holds a community event every year at Christmas when young people in fancy dress entertain elderly residents with a meal, gifts and a show. This provides a valuable opportunity for young and old residents to meet and learn from each other and helps to improve understanding and relationships between them.

More than 80 older people attended the Christmas party in 2004.

“I enjoyed the lovely Christmas do on Saturday given by you all at the Crew Club, it really is a credit to you and the teenagers.”

Eve Rudland

“The Crew Club has made a significant contribution to social cohesion in the area, bringing together parts of the community that might otherwise not meet. For example, events involving older community members have been extremely effective in breaking down barriers and dispelling myths about the behaviour of young people in Whitehawk.”

John Mitchell, eb4U Community Safety Leader

Youth Forum

The Youth Forum gets young people actively involved in running the Crew Club and ensures that their views and needs are taken into account in decision making. Members are voted for by Club members and serve on the Forum for a period of one year.

“I joined the Youth Forum because I wanted to be part of the group that will make all the young people’s voices/needs be heard.”

Scott Wheatland, Chairperson, aged 18.

“I joined the Youth Forum because I wanted to have my say in how the money and events should be done and to make it good for young people.”

Luke Nicholson, aged 18.

Nigel Jenner, Head of the Youth Support Service for Brighton & Hove City Council, announced the results of the Youth Forum Elections during a celebration party held at the Crew Club.

Achieve Economic Well Being

“While the majority of children and young people enjoy better education, health, and opportunities than previous generations, too many underachieve, are exposed to crime, abuse and neglect, or suffer from physical and mental health problems” (Every Child Matters)

Many young people from the East Brighton area have restricted aspirations and suffer low self-esteem and self-confidence. Many leave school with few formal skills and qualifications and have difficulties with accessing further education, training or employment. Some people have observed a dependency culture has developed on the estate over several generations and some families find it difficult to move off benefits and part-time work into full-time employment.

Preparing for the future

The Crew Club worked with year 11 pupils at local secondary school, COMART, who had problems attending school and with their behaviour in school. The sessions helped young people address their issues, make more of their opportunities and plan for the future. The project was accredited and young people were awarded certificates for participating successfully.

“I am learning computer skills, I like the one-to-one support from the Crew Club as it helps me to learn more. It also helps knowing the staff through going to the club.”

Daniel Sloan, aged 13,

(on the Bridge to Attendance course designed to encourage young people to attend school)

Working with employers

There is some evidence that employers in the city take a negative view of people who live in the Whitehawk area and operate a postcode bias when selecting applicants for jobs. The Crew Club has been working with employers to create better understanding and break down barriers to training and employment for young people.

The Crew Club has participated in B2E (Bridge to Employment), which creates partnerships between employers and local organisations in the city, to help tackle these negative perceptions. Young people attend a job club to learn about writing a CV, filling in application forms and applying for jobs and how to prepare for interviews. Others have benefited from work experience with a range of local employers.

A link with the Brighton & Hove Common Purpose Programme led to a team of Sky TV executives working with young people at the club to make a video, which gave both groups an opportunity to learn about each other.

“Our participants of leaders within Brighton and Hove visit the Crew Club to see first hand projects which occur outside their sphere of influence. They are always humbled to meet the true leaders within the city who are directly influencing change and producing success story after success story.”

Common Purpose Programme

Young people enjoy learning DJ and MC skills and finding out more about the music business.