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MAY 2007 Update
This will be short but hopefully useful
update - bringing you up to speed with progress on programme
arrangements for Summer and Autumn activity. If you have any queries in
reflection or need further information please get in touch. My contact
details follow at the end.
Steering Group
The Kick Racism Out of Football Steering Group met on Tuesday this week
and notes in reflection of the discussion points on which we centred and
actions agreed will follow with the June update once typed-up and agreed
with colleagues in attendance. In the meantime though, a few highlights
(programme updates aside):
- Apologies were received from Steve
Wilkinson of Greater Manchester Police who has a personal belief in and
sense of vocation towards 'the diversity agenda'. He has shown an
interest in involvement with and support of the programme
- The 2007 programme flyers will be
available in the next two to three weeks all being well. If you would
like copies please let me know
- A letter in appeal for support has
been composed and will shortly be circulated to all Councillors in the
hope of attracting of contributions from this year's Brighter Borough
budgets
- The Borough Partnership Board's
review of all matters cohesion through its Community Cohesion Commission
continues and is expected to report late Summer - offering
recommendations on strategic join-up and service improvements with the
need of dedicated budget and consistent, tangible leadership on
associated priorities almost certain to feature
- Visited last year by Rosanne
Patterson (the Leisure & Culture Trust's Equality & Diversity Officer)
the New Victoria Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and more particularly
their Borderlines Theatre Company, will be touring with Black and White:
The Replay - an anti-racist play early in 2008. It is hoped that we will
be able to factor this into the next programme, Winstanley College
having been identified as a possible venue
- It is hoped that we can re-visit the
Mini-Away/Visioning Day idea previously discussed when it comes to the
evaluation of 2007 work and the planning of 2008. One of the issues we
will almost certainly look at is the name of the programme given its
wider interest than and use of creative media additional to football
now, and opportunities to link with others active in the
diversity/cohesion field
Programme News
June
The Women's World Cup football tournament, for girls (under 12) and
young women (under 14) from across the Borough's secondary schools, will
take place on Friday 15th June at Robin Park Arena, Wigan between 9.00am
and 2.45pm - led by the Council's Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and the
Leisure & Culture Trust's Sports Development Unit together, and
supported financially by the Township Community Safety Groups. As David
Bradley's list of entrants shows some 23 teams from 12 different schools
will participate in a highly colourful event preceding that in China
later in the Summer and enabling those taking part to make a public
stand against racism in their representation of the nations that will
compete in September.
With competing schools and assistance from Wigan Athletic Ladies
Football Club colleagues from the Anti-Social Behaviour and Sports
Development Units are looking after the necessary arrangements in
respect of risk assessment, insurance, fixtures/format, rules, referees
and presentations, and I will be leading over coming weeks on
preparations for:
- interest generation among local
press/media and football supporters - a small piece already having
appeared in last week's Wigan Observer highlighting the opportunity
for public support
- and the welcome/support of VIP
guests - the Borough's new Mayor (Councillor John O'Brien) and
Mayoress (Mrs Hazel O'Brien JP), Lord Peter Smith (Leader of Wigan
Council), Brenda Spencer (Chief Executive at Wigan Athletic), and
Maggie Coghlin from Wigan & Leigh United Against Racism among those
that have so far showed interest in attendance at and support of the
event
All VIPs will:
- Be met in person at Robin
Park Arena's main entrance and escorted to the VIP Suite -
something of the tournament's colour and vibrancy being evident
from the vantage point it provides
- Enjoy light multi-cultural
refreshments and receive an information pack on arrival
- Meet the teams - having
opportunity to offer words of encouragement in person and join
with them for photographs by the local press and media
- Enjoy lunch and drinks,
informally discussing the wider Kick Racism programme's purposes
and opportunities for support in years hence
- Have chance to watch the
tournament progress and excitement build as the final draws near
- Be able to congratulate the
winners and all that have participated through pitch side
presentations at the end of the day
For further information contact David
Bradley (Sports Development Officer - Inclusion) on Wigan 404971.
More to follow next month (pre-tournament).
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July
The Kick Racism Steering Group have decided that they would like to see
the programme represented at the mini multi-cultural festival - Leigh
Mela - on Saturday 28th July (12.00noon-5.00pm on the Civic Square).
Flyers in explanation of the local programme's purposes - and their
continuing importance in support of the Leigh Neighbours Project and its
efforts to promote community cohesion, encourage good neighbourliness
and the celebration of local diversity - will be designed and printed in
advance for distribution on the day, along with branded t-shirts. A
banner will also be put-up in the 'market place' area that will be laid
out on the Library car park - to further raise awareness of our work and
reinforce the message that racism is wrong.
More next month on progress with preparations for the day. Expressions
of interest in volunteer support would be welcome in the meantime though
and my contact details follow at the end of this note.
August
Kick Racism at WOW will this year hopefully see:
- local community sports
clubs facilitate football and rugby league taster sessions
for those in attendance at the multi-cultural festival in
Mesnes Park on Sunday 5th August
- the Leisure & Culture
Trust's Active Coaching Team offer taster sessions in
multi-sports and netball (also taking opportunity to profile
their wider community programme, volunteer opportunities and
coaching courses)
- the simple idea being that these
tasters will provide opportunity for people from different backgrounds
to share in positive experiences together, talking informally in the
process and learning something from the information pack they take away
on the importance of anti-racist work in our increasingly diverse
Borough.
Work towards securing the requisite budget for branded banners,
information packs and t-shirts is on-going but the Steering Group have
been very pleased by the donations received to date from local
supporters of the programme:
- a mixed hamper from
Heinz
- a signed Wigan
Athletic shirt
- two stand tickets
from Wigan Warriors for a Super League VII game at the
JJB Stadium
With others secured before the day they
will be given away to those showing particular effort or skill in taster
participation at WOW.
Our hope with this new 'offer' at the festival is that we can reach a
large number of new people with zero tolerance/hate crime reporting
messages.
For more information contact Andy Bond (Parks Regeneration Manager,
Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust) on 488471 or Chris Essex-Crosby
(Community Sports Development Manager, Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust) on
404983.
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October
I should first advise that the dates have now been set for the national
Kick It Out 'Week of Action'. They are 18th-30th October and it will be
during this 12-day period that the local Kick Racism programme peaks:
- Question of Race
- At the time of writing this inter-cultural and
inter-generational event - a black and minority
ethnic-themed sports quiz with food available for
all and information stands at hand (on hate crime
reporting; bme involvement in the history of our
'beautiful game' through the Many Different Colours,
One Beautiful Game exhibition created by schools
across the county - 3 from our Borough - and hosted
by Robin Park Indoor Sports Centre during Hate Crime
Awareness Week; the Black and Minority Ethnic
Network and so forth) - will take place late morning
on Saturday 13th October prior to England's Euro
2008 Qualifier against Estonia at Wembley. Our hope
is that this family event, led by Tom Palmer of the
Premier League's Reading Stars Scheme, can promote
the Kick Racism message and encourage informal
dialogue between participants and audience members
from different backgrounds in a relaxed social
setting, leading into a free screening of the
England game with a raffle in aid of a race equality
charity of the winning team's choice and
refreshments available for purchase throughout the
afternoon. The availability of space at the JJB
Stadium will shortly be the subject of enquiry
- The Dance
Project, bringing together the Latics' Cheerleaders
and 12 young people from across the Borough, will
hopefully culminate with a performance at Wigan
Athletic's home game during the 'Week of Action' in
creative and artistic demonstration that
inter-cultural friendship is to be valued. All being
well this will add a new, visual element to the day
and add to the programme editorial carried, PA
announcements and pitch-side presentations made in
conveying the message that racism is wrong to
spectators in attendance (hopefully numbering
between 15 and 20,000)
- The Theatre
Project - Drawing on the positive and negative
experience of black and minority ethnic/white
indigenous children and young people living in
Leigh, and their core belief in the value of
diversity for all the racial tensions that have been
felt as local communities' composition has changed
over recent years, the specially created performance
piece will involve 20-25 young people from Bedford
High School (Leigh Sacred Heart Primary having now
pulled-back on their initial interest). Two taster
sessions will be put-on early September to generate
interest and secure commitment, with creative
sessions following through the month and then
early/mid-October - led by Wigan Pier Theatre
Company with support from the Extended Schools
Co-ordinator at Bedford. Two performances are
proposed - one for officers of an afternoon and
another parents/carers of an evening, with the local
press and media invited to both
Friends Together
The Friends Together Project at Leigh Central and Sacred Heart Primary
Schools continues to work - through visual arts & crafts and dance -
towards showcase activity at Leigh Centurions' Hilton Park on 8th July
and the Arts for All Festival at Haigh Country Park on 22nd July. This
will focus children from a variety of different backgrounds on showcase
presentation concerning shared responsibilities towards the environment
across ethnic divides and our world.
Learning Mentors Kathy Cotter and Anne Kay are in the process of
gathering evaluation materials collected to date, and while there is
broad agreement between colleagues at the Turnpike Gallery, on the Fit 2
Dance Project and at Leigh Centurions as to the life
experience/journey/personal responsibilities theme for next year key
questions remain on development/co-ordination capacity and leadership -
with neither school able to take this on and the Trust only able to
offer policy-orientated advice/support in work on resource procurement.
I have written a short discussion paper on the present position and this
is currently being reviewed by the Strategic Manager for Extended
Learning at Children and Young People's Services - with her, like me,
hoping that the new Children's Centre/Extended Schools Team can be
persuaded to support this important work's, externally-funded
consolidation and development with possible future roll-out across the
Leigh Excellence Cluster in prospect.
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Friends Together - A Project in Transition
As a catch-all I attach my colleague John
Hill's notes from the last two Working Groups here for your reading as
well.
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Leigh Neighbours Project - 22nd February 2007
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Leigh Neighbours Project - 3rd May 2007
And Finally…
On Wigan & Leigh United Against Racism's Anti-Racism Pledge (circulated
last month) I can report that:
- Leigh Sports
Trust, the new company that will oversee
management of the £83 million Leigh Sports
Village development
www.leighsportsvillage.co.uk, has recently
adopted its constitution and explicitly
committed to anti-racist practice at strategic
and operational level - a bold and very welcome
public pledge in clear support of the WLUAR
principles and in a town where ethnic diversity
goes on growing and the British National Party
continue to receive substantive support at local
elections (300 votes this time - with an
additional 2200 being cast across the Borough on
May 3rd)
- At the
Cultural Partnership's Convention on Saturday
(19th May) WLUAR displayed their anti-racist
banner and handed copies of the pledge out to
delegates and officers in attendance - numbering
67 on the day. In attendance on the group's
behalf Cath Foxon (also of Ashton, Leigh and
Wigan Primary Care Trust) considered the morning
a useful investment of time in awareness raising
and was pleased by the supportive comment of
Cultural Partnership (and Wigan Borough Sports
Council) Chair Trevor Barton in his closing
remarks
- Discussions
are underway on the creation of copy for a new
WLUAR website that will set a context for and
carry the pledge, enabling online 'sign-up' and
feedback on comment generated by its display in
community/voluntary settings, policy and/or
procedural review. Through his company,
Professional Witnesses, Trevor Barton has kindly
agreed to sponsor the site
- Still the
Borough Sports Council
www.wbsc.org.uk remain keen to receive a
presentation on the pledge, its importance
locally and WLUAR's formative plans for its
roll-out and impact monitoring. At the time of
writing though a date is awaited for their next
Executive meeting. Shortly thereafter it is
hoped that they will publicly 'sign-up' to the
pledge before local press and media, encouraging
member clubs to do the same and work with Wigan
& Leigh United Against Racism to review to
policies, procedures and inclusivity
To the question asked of the Council's
Diversity Champions Group on the need of a Compact review to reflect a
fulsome and joined-up commitment to the diversity agenda an answer is
still awaited. Steering Group colleague and Township Manager Sian Jay
will pick this up at her earliest opportunity as she assumes new
cohesion and diversity-related responsibilities and the Corporate
Diversity Champions Group is itself re-focused (see attached meeting
notes from 14th May, more particularly minute 3.0 for more).
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Diversity Champions Group Meeting - May 14th
With Adam Sherratt from Wigan Athletic's
Football in the Community Programme I had been due to meet last Tuesday
afternoon to explore the prospect of our programme's link with their new
Ethnic Inclusion Project as previously reported, but on account of other
pressures and priorities Adam cancelled and I hope to fix-up a new date
with him soon. I look forward to receipt of feedback from Steering Group
colleague - and Parks Regeneration Manager at the Trust - Andy Bond as
well. He is due to meet the club's Football in the Community Officer,
Bill Grundy, with this and future years in mind - to discuss the
possibility of his leading on a Kick Racism-branded football competition
for schools across the Borough to enable our re-engagement of children
and young people across the age ranges in dissemination of positive
messages about the value of diversity and importance of a zero tolerance
stand on racism. Efforts to forge stronger links with Wigan Athletic, as
they pursue intermediate level accreditation through the Premier
League's Race Equality Standard, continue.
In the experience and successes of others active across the country in
Kick Racism work I continue to take an interest with our own programme's
development in mind:
-
Volunteers from Sheffield Hallam University
recently organised an inter-cultural
football tournament to help build bridges
between student and asylum seeker/refugee
communities - it seems that there might be
an opportunity for the local College/BME
Network worthy of exploration here. Will
pick-up
- The
Football Against Racism in Europe Network
held a very successful conference recently
which saw a number of key challenges for the
game debated. It will be interesting to see
what response follows by the English game's
authorities and clubs at a lower level - see
http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=9&StoryID=31
Sports Minister Richard Caborn gave some
insight into opportunities in an interview
appearing this week on the Kick It Out
website
http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=426
Food for thought again here.
John Hesketh
Community Regeneration Manager (Youth & Community Development)
Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust
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