IS ROCHDALE TROUBLED BY ITS TEENS?
“Youth is wasted on the young.” George Bernard Shaw
On RO’s news pages I was interested in three separate and seemingly unrelated stories relating to young people.
Firstly, there is the truly shocking statistic that in Rochdale, 43% of children are living below the official poverty line in the Smallbridge and Firgrove ward.. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65466/figures-reveal-percentage-of-children-living-in-poverty
Secondly, there was the story about gangs of up to a hundred youths congregating in some of our local parks, allegedly to participate in long nights of drunken or drug-fuelled excess in which under-age sex also featured. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65463/concerns-over-teen-drink-and-sex-sessions
Finally, there was a touching story of the 52-year old Heywood woman who was rescued from a burning building by a very plucky 16-year old neighbour. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/65400/woman-rescued-from-fire-by-16yearold-neighbour
Of course the poverty statistics are very much open to debate as the RO forum reveals. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14080&title=child-poverty We can argue about what constitutes REAL child poverty until we are blue in the face. Definitions of child poverty in the UK are obviously different to those that might have applied to the London of Charles Dickens or to a sub-Saharan country but the Rochdale figures do indicate serious grounds for concern.
Our children deserve the best start in life and yet in one ward in Rochdale almost half the children there are living in poverty. Whatever we think of the data, there is no room for complacency here and these figures should shame the politicians of all persuasions who have made vows to end child poverty over the past few decades.
In the story of teenage excess in Rochdale parks, we are presented with a slightly different take on childhood. Here a view is presented of adolescents who presumably have money to burn on drugs and alcohol. Whether or not the Bacchanalian orgies described by the police inspector really are like something out of a Cecil B DeMille film spectacular or are rather more low-key and tawdry also seems, on the forums at least, rather open to debate. http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14086&title=teenagers-in-the-park
Whatever the facts involved in the poverty statistics and in the ‘booze and sex in the park’ stories there does seem to be strong indications that more needs to be done for young people in the town.
The days when teenagers joined youth clubs or some sort of uniformed or non-uniformed activity group seems to have gone long ago. Modern teenagers belong to the ipod generation where pleasures are often more materialistic and ephemeral than in days gone by.
Perhaps the Arts Centre we were once promised but will never be delivered might have helped to address some of the issues of those drifting towards delinquency, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, alcoholism or perhaps all four.
Yes, we know that times are hard. The economic horse has bolted and the church-mouse is on the phone to wonga.com but we really do need to invest in the young. Some of this investment costs next to nothing and involves little more than improved parenting skills. Other investment needs to be of the more expensive kind and may involve bricks and mortar and an expansion of services to attract young people into leading more interesting, fruitful and rewarding lives.
One thing is certain. Provide them with little to nothing as appears to be the case at the moment and the situation can only get worse.
Our children are our future in both the literal and metaphorical senses. They deserve the very best environment in which to realise their potential. So much of the experience of growing up in the Rochdale of the present day seems unlikely to help this potential to be delivered.
And yet one 52-year old Heywood woman owes her life to the fact that one 16-year old, whatever his socio-economic background, on that night at least, was not involved in fulfilling anyone’s negative stereotype of teenagers and willingly risked his own life to save hers.
Should he get an award? Certainly.
But let’s not forget the other thousands of Rochdale children. Let’s ‘award’ them with the best possible environment to grow up in whether or not we are parents, politicians, planners, prospective employers or just fellow-citizens.
You know it makes sense.
THE BLUE SHED RESPONDS:
He talks some guff. Bring back National Service I say. Too much time on their hands. Fornicating in the bloody park? Bring back the old Park Keepers I say and arm them with cudgels and tasers.
These buggers need a cold bath in the morning followed by a 5-mile run and a bowl of cold, lumpy porridge.
When I was a tree I didn't have sex. I just sort of grew out of the ground. I don't understand what all the bloody fuss is about.
