Lucinda Neall

Manhood

2009-10-27T18:42:00.004Z

I've spent the last seven Mondays in a young offenders' institution piloting the a behaviour change programme called 'Silence the Violence' brought in from South Africa. It was an emotional journey for all of us. At the awards ceremony the boys told the deputy governor and other staff what they had learned. One of them summarised it like this: A male is someone who can make a baby. A man is

Volunteering

2009-08-21T20:27:00.002+01:00

I'm convinced that the way to create what we want and need in our communities is not by complaining about what governments – local and national – are not providing, but by coming together and creating what we want ourselves. If the council provides a youth club / sports club / social club / drop in – that's great. But if it doesn't, and that's what the community needs, it just takes two or three

2009-05-11T14:49:00.007+01:00

Creating Safer Communities for All Spring 2009 Our Aim is for Leighton Buzzard to be a place where:➢ there is a sense of community that allows everyone to feel safe➢ young people feel recognised, valued, respected and catered for➢ adults feel respected by young people**************************************************************************

A Good Childhood

2009-02-28T15:27:00.005Z

This month the Children's Society published its report on childhood in the UK, A Good Childhood – Searching for Values in a Competitive Age. Noting that the UK comes out poorly in studies of child welfare compared to other developed countries (except the United States), it looks for the causes and solutions to the problem. It concludes that in recent decades family and community values have

An uplifting day

2009-01-21T05:00:00.005Z

It started with a meeting with two mums who decided last spring that they wanted to set up a youth club – everything is in place for it to open next week. Later I watched Barack Obama's inauguration on TV.This evening I was invited to a meeting of Cheddington Youth Council – a group of teenagers who want to make their village a better place to live. The two main things on their agenda were how to

Reflections of a boy biker

2008-12-10T11:13:00.000Z

I did everything I could to fit into any gang that would have me in the 70’s. Long hair, unwashed, jeans full of holes, leather jacket with studs and a 750cc Triumph Bonneville motorcycle with extra loud exhaust pipes. I left school at 16 with poor grades from my exams but managed to talk my way into a job. Today my friends are mostly university professors or company directors. Punk Rock is a

The downturn may help build community

2008-12-08T14:25:00.000Z

The up-side of the economic downturn is that we are being forced to reassess our priorities and look at our values. This may push us to focus on truly important things like family, friends and our community. My hope is that we may come out of this downturn not only with a bit of sanity in how our financial institutions are run (and even how much our footballers are paid), but also a realisation

Male role models

2008-11-05T17:55:00.000Z

This morning I watched Barack Obama and John McCain give their speeches when the result of the US presidential election became clear. I was impressed. The two men behaved like statesmen - both acknowledging the strengths of the other, neither allowing themselves or others to blame or to crow, each prepared to put their differences behind them and look to the future and the common good. These are

Are we over-reacting?

2008-10-23T09:46:00.000+01:00

When talking to a group of kids about what would make their community a better place to live, I asked them what adults could do to make it better. One of the boys said "Don't over-react when we do something wrong. Tell us off, but don't make it into a big deal."That's good advice. As adults, we often over-react and blow things out of proportion. Part of growing up is getting up to mischief and