Castle Bromwich Community Website

I recently came across a survey conducted on behalf of Barnados last year that concluded that there is a disturbing and unjustified intolerance of children in the UK. It showed that UK society casually condems all children with more than half the respondents stating that they thought that British children behave like animals. The survey showed that the majority of respondents had a negative view of all children, despite the vast majority making a positive contribution to their community and many being involved in voluntary work. Castle Bromwich also has a problem with the relationships between the young and the old with wide spread publicity of what the young do wrong, but little publicity of what they contribute to the community.The time has come to redress the balance and start to report good news as well as bad. All the negative reporting that we are exposed to is creating an unjustified fear of all the young that is distressing to all concerned. It's easy to fall into the habit of talking about what's wrong all the time - after all it has to be identified to ensure that it gets rectified, but it's just as important to praise what is right.

On June 2nd, Solihull Volunteer Managers' Forum held a celebratory event for volunteers in Arden Hall where local voluntary groups and individual volunteers were thanked for their voluntary efforts. It was a eye opening experience with a large number of teenage volunteers being recognised for their efforts and entertainment being provided by young performers. As one of the organisers of the event, I was pleased to receive a large number of letters and emails after the event from elderly residents expressing their surprise at the amount of voluntary work undertaken by teenagers in Castle Bromwich of which they had no idea.

I'd like to request that we share some positive stories about youth in the community to try and create a balanced view of the young today. There are a couple of reports on this website that are worth reading. They can be found HERE - War Graves Uncovered by Volunteers and HERE - Young Voices Rock World. Please add your own positive reports, it can be as simple as somebody sharing computer knowledge with an elderly person to personal achievements. It doesn't have to be about helping others just some positive stories or success stories to redress the balance.

I thought I was alone in being concerned about our view of children today. I've been reading things here for some time and was worried about the attitude towards children who seem to be getting moaned about merely for playing in or walking the streets. Isn't that what we did as children?

On a positive note, my father is in a home. This year a number of children from a local school, think it's Park Hall but may not be, have been visiting as part of their lessons. One girl was talking about how she wished to become a masterchef and would be going to catering college. The elderly residents expressed the hope that she would do well and that they would get to taste her food. Now once a month she comes into the home on her own bringing cakes that she has baked for the residents to enjoy and spends about an hour talking to those who rarely receive visitors.