young people of Crossways take a shine to cars and shoes in aid of their skate bowl (From Dorset Echo)

young people of Crossways take a shine to cars and shoes in aid of their skate bowl

12:03am Monday 2nd March 2009 in Community

YOUNGSTERS in the village are still hard at work to raise a sizeable contribution towards their plans for new facilities. In particular they are keen to see the creation of a new skate bowl and multi use games area.

Under the guidance and help of community development worker Kris Hallett and PCSO Vicki Hedges together with parents and parish councillors the Crossways young people’s forum has made a very impressive start.

Last year they put on a youth activity day and ran stalls at local events with every penny going into the fund. Representatives called on the chief constable for Dorset as well as visiting Jim Knight, our MP in the Houses of Parliament.

It is always difficult to keep the momentum going and yet these ‘ambassadors’ for Crossways have done just that. They have also been involved in making applications for grants and donations and so have a real idea of the amount of work that goes into a large project.

Taking part on the parish council sub-committee representatives of the youth forum also get to see democracy in action. Above all however they are itching to have a facility they can be proud of.

When they heard about the starting of a monthly market in the village they were keen to be involved. This was behind the idea for a car wash and shoe shine at the library which is alongside the youth centre where the market was being held.

It was extremely successful with twenty cars queuing to be washed and others having to be turned away as after two hours solid washing the workforce was shattered. The shoe shine was equally as possible. Librarian Chris Galpin took off her shoes passing them out to be given a good polish. She did wonder if regulars in the library would wonder why she had shrunk !

There was a great atmosphere and with £115 raised the youngsters were really pleased with their efforts. The next market is on Saturday, March 28 and they are hoping to do even better.

• MEMBERS of Crossways scout group have also been busy and many of them were involved in the car wash including former scouts which was good to see. The group has vacancies in the beaver colony, cub pack and scout troop and are looking to do a little recruitment.

Group chaplain Rev. Jacquie Birdseye and Headteacher of Frome Valley First School, Helen Boyce talked about the group at a special assembly. A camp fire blanket was shown covered in badges and Mrs Boyce found her girl guide blanket. A good number of children also wore their uniforms to school in honour of ‘thinking day’.

Rev. Birdseye told the children about the motto of the scouts ‘be prepared’ and what this meant in a practical sense. She played a trick on the children by pretending she had arrived late and had forgotten all about the assembly.

Although it was also pancake day and the beavers and cubs really wanted to get on with the cooking they found time to make some special invitation cards. Both sections are holding a ‘bring a friend’ evening when boys and girls from the village will be able to come and see the activities that they get up to.

• CONGRATULATIONS goes to members of the scout troop who entered the Dorchester district cooking competition and won. They went on to take part in the county finals held at Shaftesbury and came third. The leaders are looking for top notch cuisine at scout camps from now on.

• FOOD has been very much the theme for all the sections this term with the cubs making a vegetarian curry and the beaver scouts celebrating Chinese new year by tasting some appropriate food. There were fortune cookies for the cubs to try as well.
• NEWSPAPER recycling has been a mainstay of the scout groups fund raising for many years and one or two residents have asked if it is still continuing. There have been recent national reports that the price paid for the paper has fallen so far that schemes are collapsing. The scouts are still collecting and hopefully this will continue as it is a most eco friendly way of fund raising and it would be a dreadful shame if it stopped.