Mischief Night has become a night of fear and dread amongst so many in Liverpool in recent years, as more and more crimes get reported across the city. These are, unfortunately, often caused by gangs of youths, with the reported damage of this year’s Mischief Night running into the tens of thousands. Committed to supporting young people and the community where they work, Positive Futures decided to tackle this heads-on to try and reduce the volume of anti-social behaviour, by once again running a series of activities to encourage young people to stay out of mischief.
This year, a total of 28 young people pledged to spend time with Positive Futures, doing something positive.
14 young people took part in a Football Tournament that started at 12noon. Positive Futures then took the group Go-karting, ultimately seeing them return home at 11pm. The day wasn’t just about doing something positive with Mischief Night, it was also about encouraging young people to stay active, develop their communication and team work skills, whilst having some friendly competition.
Talking of the experience, one participant said;
“I will be back again, I’ve had a great day. Even if we stayed in the unit that would have been fine”.
The youth charity also took a second group of 14 young people to Farmageddon in the evening where a frightening time was had by all. There were plenty of spooky goings on and one young person even fell through a trap door! This group returned home at 11pm with them all thoroughly enjoying their time, and perhaps more importantly, having avoiding getting involved in any form of anti-social behaviour. Watch a video from the night here.
Clare Corran, CEO of Positive Futures said;
“Every year we read reports of the damage done by this night, where gangs of young people seem to think it is acceptable to cause so much damage across our city. However, we know from experience that if young people are given the chance to do something fun and entertaining, they will often choose that. Therefore, it was an obvious choice for us to run a range of additional activities; to not only give young people the chance to make the right decision, but also to invest something in them and in our local community.”
Positive Futures engage with thousands of young people aged 8 – 21 in the North Liverpool area every year. In 2018/19, they held 403 Open Access Sessions and delivered 2,611 hours of detached work out on the streets and in the youth settings where young people are. 89% of young people reported that they received the support they needed from Positive Futures.
Next year the charity plans to build on the successes of this year by planning more activities for local young people, ultimately helping the local community to manage Mischief Night. To find out more about their website, visit www.positivefutures.org.uk.
