News
04 August 2010, and the No Messin' team were at Hampden Park in Eastbourne, Sussex, with Colin Nell, International Football Skills champion.
The event was attended by hundreds of young people who had the opportunity to have a go at new activities for free and learned how to stay safe during the summer holidays.
As well as a demonstrating his free styling skills to music in the arena, Colin ran workshops where young people could improve their game and learn some tricks!
The No Messin' team were on hand to remind young people that in Eastbourne the railway is really busy. The trains are powered by 750 volts of electricity that is never switched off and if you come into contact with it, it can kill you. Colin urged the young people in Eastbourne to safe this summer by trying some new activities and not messing around on or near the railway.
A football tournament in South Wales this August saw 130 local children taking part in a hard-fought competition.
It was organised by a partnership between Network Rail, British Transport Police and Arriva Trains Wales to promote alternative activities for young people in place of trespassing.
The event comprised two regional tournaments, in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, and a grand final. The winners of the first, held at Daniel James Comprehensive School in Treboeth, were hosts Daniel James Comprehensive with Bishopston Comprehensive runners up. Cwrt Sart Comprehensive won the second, with St Josephs runners up.
During the tournament, each team received a hard hitting safety presentation featuring young people and families who had been affected by trespassing on the railway.
The top four teams from both regional tournaments went forward to the finals, where Daniel James met Morriston in a tense and hard fought final, with Daniel James emerging as champions.
Alan Milne, Network Rail's community safety manager said: "Many children cite boredom as the main reason for committing crimes near railways, endangering their own lives and the lives of others. We hope this event will show them that there are positive activities to occupy their time, especially with the summer holidays fast approaching."
Geraint Morgan, community affairs manager for Arriva Trains Wales, said: "This tournament has been a valuable exercise in engaging with young people through the medium of sport. While enjoying taking part in the football, it has also been encouraging to see them taking on board the dangers of trespassing on the railway and the consequences this could have on them and their families."
A website created by 5 members of Hull Kung Fu Club with a section about rail safety could win its creators a trip to Florida.
The site, Action Stop Crime was created by Connor (10), Bailey (10), Steffan (12), Daniel (14) and Victoria (16) during the Operation Lifestyle programme run by Humberside Police over the summer.
The club was originally set up over 7 years ago to target ex-offenders, drug users and alcoholics but has expanded beyond its original targets. In addition to teaching self-defence and fitness, they aim to build member's confidence and explain the bad effects of drugs and bullying. Volunteers from the club also teach Tai Chi to NHS patients, blind institutes and schools.
Thanks to Operation Lifestyle, the website could win them that trip to sunny Florida. Good luck!
A youth project teaching bike skills and rail safety in Bristol has helped significantly reduce rail crime in the area.
The Bristol Bike Project, jointly funded by Network Rail and StreetGames UK is now in its second year having run successfully through 2009.
The courses are organised by Marc Molloy from Sole Events, working closely with Safer Bristol, the Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council's Sports Development team and Youth Inclusion project, identifying areas of Bristol with problems with trespassing and vandalism on the railways.
Marc Molloy: "At first we would turn up to schools, parks, youth clubs or anywhere else we knew we could meet the young people. We would just play games, sports and have competitions or just chat about general bits and pieces. Once we had gained their trust we would start to build in educational elements and formalise the courses we ran into 6-week courses."
The first of these courses included trips to local cycle parks and tracks, taught bike maintenance and took the participants to Manchester to see Chris Hoy race. They all passed their level 1 and 2 Bikeability test too.
Two weeks were set aside for educational trips, including a tour of the local Police Station and a talk on rail safety and the problems that trespassing causes to rail staff from Liz Heading, Network Rail's Community Safety Manager.
Jake, 9, said of the project in Bishopsworth in February 2010: "This is the best thing I do all week!"
The work doesn't stop when a course ends: Marc and his team of coaches run a variety of biking activities, including weekly drop-in sessions, after-school clubs and bike trips to Cwm Carn in Wales and Ashton Court in Bristol.
The project was nominated for the Cycle Rail Awards and won a Highly Commended Certificate for Community Engagement at the Network Rail Partnership Awards.
StreetGames are now working with the Network Rail team in Wales to set up similar projects.
See pictures and video from the Bristol Bike Project.
The Trowbridge Skate Art Project, held over a weekend in September 2009, gave fifteen young people the chance to work with artists to create a mural at their local skate park, which is near a railway and train station.
The artists taught them new drawing and painting skills, talked about why they shouldn't do illegal graffiti and about the legal alternatives, including how you can make a living through art.
The young people also learnt about railway crime and safety through looking at newspaper stories and discussing the dangers and consequences of messing about on railway tracks.
The Trowbridge skate art project was a partnership project between Network Rail, Trowbridge Town Council, Wiltshire Police, British Transport Police, Wiltshire Youth Arts Partnership, Wiltshire Youth Service and the Read and Weep Artist Collective.
See how they transformed the skate park in our gallery.
The No Messin' football tournament on May 8th 2010 brought together teams from Derby and communities around the city at Moor Farm in the Erewash Valley, an area where we regularly experience problems with youth crime.
Sam, 15, said: "It's good to have a sport in your life, it gives me something to do in my free time. I think it's a good idea to do stuff like this and make young kids realise that if they mess around with the trains, they could end up dead."
There was a rail safety quiz during the event, with participants receiving free No Messin' items, including hat and T-shirt.
Nath, 16, said: "We often have to get the train when we want to go to town. But I never realised trains could go so fast – it's not worth losing your life playing on the tracks, I would miss playing football too much!"
The winners of each age group received a trophy and the finalists received runners-up awards.
See pictures from the tournament
And here are the winners:
Under 12s
Winners – Duffield Meadows
Runners up – Borrowash Vics
Under 14s
Winners – Sporting Cobraz
Runners up – Derwent Kickz
Under 16s
Winners – Merrill
Runners up – Derwent Kickz
Under 18s
Winners – Normanton
Runners up – Derwent Kickz
In 2009, we ran projects at two Traveller sites in Wiltshire in conjunction with the Traveller Teachers and Traveller Liaison Officers from Wiltshire County Council.
The sites, at Thingley and Bonnie Park, are both next to the railway, making it vitally important that the children and indeed the adults living there understand the impact and consequences of railway crimes and know how to behave safely when travelling by train or when near to the tracks.
We worked with Open Blue Trust and Shine Salisbury Baptist Church, who brought along their buses with laptops, internet access, seating and importantly refreshments, giving us our very own mobile classroom.
Liz Heading, Network Rail's community safety manager, gave a presentation using videos and real life examples to spark discussions about railway crime and safety.
We ran a railway safety poster competition for which First Great Western kindly donated four First Class Tickets as the prize. A panel of Traveller Elders judged the competition and after much deliberation chose the winning poster, which they felt was very bold and clearly put across the message that you should not go on to railway tracks.
At Thingley there was also a railway crime quiz, with the winner getting a No Messin' MP4 player.
The project was very well received and the children and young people learnt a lot about railway crime and safety, which was clearly demonstrated by their posters and their ability to answer all of the quiz questions correctly.
See our gallery from the projects
One year after the opening of Gloves Community Gym, which Network Rail sponsors, boxing champion Amir Khan and gym protege Umar Bhamji chatted to no-messin.com about boxing, what inspires them and how the gym has changed their lives.
During the joint interview Khan tells No Messin' how proud it makes him to see youngsters such as Umar using the club, enjoying themselves and most importantly staying out of trouble.
Amir said: "We are getting over 400 kids a week through the doors here. These kids have never boxed before and they come here, they try it and they love it. It keeps them off the streets and it gives them something to work for".
The dedicated young star Umar, who now trains almost everyday admits that only last year he was in and out of trouble with police. But having found Gloves and a more fun and rewarding way to spend his time, his life has turned around. With already a hand full of fights under his belt Umar reveals what an inspiration Amir is to him: "Having Amir as a mentor and role model makes me feel determined, if he can make it then I can make it too."
Is he the next Amir Khan? Watch this space.
Watch the interview here.
Ever wondered what would happen if you got hit by a train?
Or how close to live cables you need to be for the charge to jump through the air? Or what would happen if you stand too close to the track when a high-speed train goes by?
Well, now a new film from the No Messin'! team shows you all that and much more.
This special 12-minute film highlights some of the very specific dangers posed by trains travelling on High Speed 1, the UK's first high speed railway which goes all the way from London St Pancras station to the Channel Tunnel in Kent.
It contains some eye-opening experiments by our team of "Trainiacs" who'll show you some of the hazards posed by trains travelling at up to 186mph. You can hear about the turbulence they create, how quiet they are, their stopping distance and a graphic demonstration using watermelons to show what would happen if someone got struck by a train!
Anne-Marie Batson, community safety manager at Network Rail and presenter of the film, said: "Part of my role is to talk to young people and the wider community about the consequences of messing about on the railway. It is madness for young people to play on any railway line, but owing to the fact the high-speed trains are bigger, faster and quieter, we have developed this film to highlight some of the specific dangers associated with them. We hope that by getting these messages across we can help prevent a needless tragedy."
Have a look at a trailer for this film here.
Network Rail and Medway YISP (Youth Inclusion Support Panel) are working in partnership on the 'Railway Safety Reps' project.
Now in its second year, the project involves young people at risk of offending/anti social behaviour to be trained in railway safety messages.
The young people create and deliver a railway safety presentation under supervision from the Community Safety Manager. The presentation is approx 20 mins in length and delivered by the Reps to Year 6 primary school children in the Gillingham area. The presentation is delivered in their words and at times, describes their experiences of messing around on the tracks whilst explaining the dangers to the children.
Think of wrestling and you'll probably imagine Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Wrestlemania.
It's fair to say the small Clackmannanshire town of Tullibody probably won't come to mind. But thanks to Network Rail's No Messin' campaign - which aims to educate young people about the dangers of railway crime while offering them alternative healthy activities to playing on the railway - you may be hearing a lot more about Tullibody Wrestling Club.
For Brian Harper, 12, Lewis Waddell, 13, and Shannon Hawke, 12, the club has allowed them to make friends, learn personal discipline and see parts of the world otherwise out of reach at this time in their lives. Now, with the help of No Messin', they are setting their sights on the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and even the Olympics.
Brian said: "The No Messin' sponsorship has helped me to pay the fees involved in competitions as well as to buy new equipment such as boots and clothing. I was even able to compete in Toulouse, in France, where I won a gold medal. I probably couldn't have gone without the sponsorship money." And Shannon revealed: "My sponsorship helped me go to Helsinki, in Finland, and be part of the British team as the only Scottish girl there. It has made things easier for my parents and also for the club, paying for new equipment." All three agree that wrestling has become a big part of their lives and has impacted on their social life in a positive way, giving them the confidence to meet new people.
"I feel more disciplined and it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble," said Brian. "I've made new friends and my parents and teachers are really proud of me." And proud they should be. As a group, their level of success at such an early age has been remarkable. Shannon is currently the best in her weight class across Britain and has been for the past three years. Lewis, despite being the youngest in his weight group, is already the fifth best, and Brian has won more than 30 medals and trophies. In fact, this current British No.1 has so many trophies, he's having a second cabinet made for them, having filled the first.
This level of success didn't happen by itself, however, but through a disciplined training regime, a balanced and healthy diet. It was also done with the support of friends and family, as well as their coach, Colin McLaren.
"I train three nights a week and I sometimes get to train with the Scottish team in Glasgow," said Brian. "I try and eat sensibly, things such as chicken and vegetables, and I drink lots of water. I do eat chocolate, too, though."
Lewis revealed: "I train for six hours a week, across three nights. I eat lots of pasta, fruit and high-protein foods but not before a bout. Afterwards it's good to have lots of high-energy sweets."
The end goal of all of this training is, of course, to compete on the biggest stage of them all. Brian said: "I'll be too young to compete in the 2012 Olympics but I would love to go and watch the wrestling bouts.
"But I'm hoping to be part of the Scottish team for 2014 and maybe the Olympics after that. I would love to compete for Scotland. I think the experience would be amazing."
Click here to view the article in "Young Scot" (PDF)
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