Street truck seeks teenage gangs

Jon Wright
BBC Suffolk, Community Journalist

Dale and Karl are two of the team heading out with the new truck

A new street project in Suffolk is using a sleek black 4x4 and free hot chocolate to engage teenagers hanging around in large groups.

The Wos Up Twilight project will target rural parts of the county and deprived areas in Ipswich.

The team will be out every Friday and Saturday evening, bringing sports kit and laptops for young people to use.

"You do get a little bit of bravado, but it's about how you relate to them," said participation worker Dale Hayward.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk what they pack in the back of the truck: "Portable goals posts, baskets balls, we've got a generator with floodlights and we can hook up laptops, so people can use the internet when they're out in rural areas."

"What we aim to do is be responsive. We listen to what young people actually want and we can then provide that out where they are."

Wos Up Twilight is coming to: Ipswich on Friday 6 and 13 November Newmarket on Saturday 7 and 14 November Ipswich basketball event on Saturday 21 November Lowestoft on Friday 4 December

Karl Huggins is another of the team who will be out and about with the truck.

"Sometimes we get swamped, sometimes young people are a bit more tentative and give us a wide berth."

"The best way is to say, 'look guys I've got a spare ball. If you want to play, go for it'.

"They normally pick it up within five or ten minutes and then you're interacting with them.

"They're happy, you're happy and then you can start a relationship."

The project is run by Supporting Contemporary Adolescence (SCA), which is a community interest company.

It has been given nearly £430,000 from the government's Youth Sector Development Fund with the aim of promoting community cohesion by providing diversionary activities for young people away from anti-social behaviour.

Dale says the street work will be followed up by involving young people in deciding how future projects will work.

"We're going to be creating youth forums, so there'll be a county youth forum, with southern, western and northern forums as well.

"We're hoping that some of the people we engage with we can then bring back into the project.

"They'll then be able to take part in decisions that affect them and advocate on behalf of young people."