Towards a Drug Free Congleton
A new scheme to educate young people in Congleton about the dangers of drug use was launched last week at a meeting for interested parents at Congleton Town Hall.
Towards a Drug Free Congleton was initiated by the Congleton Youth Committee who have worked in conjunction with Fiona Bruce MP and former Town Mayor Sally Ann Holland and current Town Mayor George Hayes for around 18 months.
The Parents Meeting was a culmination of this collaborative working and involved presentations from the Cheshire Police, Cheshire Fire and Rescue, the Street Pastors and a current offender who spoke about the impact drugs had on his life.
There will now be an ‘Intervention Day’ in the two high schools on 27th November for all Year 9 pupils including the presentations from the Police and Fire and Rescue Service that were briefly outlined at the Parent’s Meeting.
Fiona Bruce MP commented on the event “It is a privilege to work with the enthusiastic and forward thinking members of the Youth Committee who are committed to making a difference in their community. I was incredibly pleased by the success of the meeting this week which will pave the way for educating the young people of Congleton in a coherent and consistent way across the town. I am also very grateful to all those who are involved in presentations for the Parent’s Meeting and the Intervention Day and to Eaton Bank and Congleton High for so enthusiastically facilitating this. This important work is addressing a real need in Congleton and will make a genuine difference not just for the pupils and their parents but for the community as a whole.”
Chairman of the Congleton Youth Committee, Joe Hearson said
“What was great was that it wasn't just parents who attended, but people representing all sorts of different agencies. Drugs awareness has been a big project for the Youth Committee for almost two years now since we produced a report containing the views of 413 members of Congleton's youth on issues such as drugs, alcohol, transport etc. When we presented the report to Fiona in the House of Commons she suggested that we focused on cracking down on drugs, and so we did. It is exciting for us to see that the hard work seems to be paying off, and it will be fantastic to see the project developed further in the future to diminish the issue of drugs in Congleton more and more.”
