Vida's Walkabout

At first glance, Burnley Wood seems to be in a sort of limbo. On one hand, there are occupied homes, where it is clear the residents take care and pride in their surroundings, but on the other, there are rows of houses boarded up which are being subjected to vandalism.

There are all sorts of political, social and economic issues which have led to this, however, it is not the purpose of this article to discuss them.

Rather, I wanted to share with Burnley Wood residents, and other viewers of these community sites, that there are so many things to be positive about in the area.

'Our priority is the young people', said Bill, as we made our way towards the play park. His modesty prevented him from openly admitting this to me, but he hinted that it was his idea to get the young people from the local schools involved in spending time with the elderly residents of Gerald Court, the sheltered housing scheme in the area.

'Many of the kids round here come from broken homes, they don't have grandparents. We arranged for three local schools to take part in doing a Christmas carol service for the elderly residents, Springfield Community School, Unity College and St. Stephen's CE Voluntary Aided Primary School.

'The kids from the junior schools left after the carol service and the secondary school children stayed to play bingo and hand out prizes.

'Then when Burnley Wood Park oficially opened, we helped organised a cake bake sale, which the elderly residents contributed to. All monies raised at the sale went back into the coffers for activities for the young people.' According to Bill, the park has been an asset to the community. 'We police it regularly and we were able to secure funding to have CCTV installed in the area. We've had very little trouble with anti-social behaviour.' Even though activities for young people are the priority for the police and organisations like Burnley Wood Community Action Group, there are positive aspects for the older residents too.

Bill walked me round to Terrace Fields Development Trust, which is housed within an old chapel building. Upon entering we realised there were a number of older residents inside taking part in a luncheon club and I was warmed to know this facility existed for them.

'This used to be called the 'One Stop Shop', and was a drop-in centre. Now they have activities for elderly residents and focus on adult learning,' said Bill.

On our walk back towards Branch Road, where BWCAG and the neighbourhood policing team are based, I asked Bill what he thought should be done to further improve the community.

'We need community-based facilities to be made available for the remaining residents, give them a reason to stay. In the four years I've been PCSO for this area, I've got to admit I've seen little progress. We've done our best and have arranged summer activities for the kids over the holidays which have been successful.' Bill showed me a folder of hundreds of photographs taken from the summer scheme. I saw children caving, taking part in team-building activities such a raft construction, and basically having a good time. This year was the second time they had arranged such a program, and it is hoped it will continue.

'We (Burnley Police) provided funding for the trip along with donations from BWCAG, Accent North West and other voluntary groups. The kids had a great time and it meant they were off the streets,' said Bill.

I know the area has received bad press over recent times, but I discovered, with a little help from Bill, that there are still plenty of reasons to remain cheerful and optimistic, in a time of extensive change for Burnley Wood.