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Bloomsbury’s youths say a trek through Chesham countryside makes for an important step in the right direction
TEENAGERS from Bloomsbury say they have been transformed following a four-day trek in the Chesham countryside. The 15-mile expedition in Buckinghamshire was organised by the West Central Youth Club in Dragon Hall, Stukeley Street, as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
Guiled Ibrahim, 19, just one of the 17 teenagers to say there is “nothing to do” in Bloomsbury, said: “It’s been a really good experience. We had to work together to make it through. I feel like I want to do something with my life now.”
Seventeen of the teenagers – who grew up together at Clement St Danes primary school – set up camps for the first time and took photos of the trip. Their photos are being exhibited in a disused shop on the corner of Bury Place and Little Museum Street.
The exhibition, which opens on Friday for one day, was organised by artist Helena Roden, who has lived in Bury Place for 25 years.
She said: “It’s a shame we cannot get more funding than we do. These teenagers want to be rewarded – but even projects like this cost money.” She praised the Bloomsbury community for pitching in to help the project.
Elinor Wynne Lloy runs It’s All Greek, selling reproduction art and jewellery in Bury Place, where the Bloomsbury teenagers used to hang out at night. She has moved to the other end of the street and, in the spirit of tolerance, offered the empty shop to them to hold their exhibition for free.
She said: “We had our run-ins. They used to sit on my olive trees and leave footprints on the door. But I found that, as with most humans, if you treat them with respect they will do the same for you.” The print shop on Museum Street has helped by printing high quality images at a huge discount.
“The next skill they want to master, apparently, is cooking,” said Ms Roden. She said the site was “poignant” as the doorstep used to be a regular hang-out for the bored teenagers at night.
“Three years ago this particular corner of Bloomsbury was the site of trouble. Young men with nothing to do would congregate. What they saw as socialising was perceived by other residents as threatening.”
And Shafiq Rahman, who runs the youth centre at Dragon Hall, praised the trip and art exhibition: “It is projects like this that help unite youths.
“We have Somali, Bengali and white teenagers all working together and integrating. It helps them see what they have in common. What we are trying to do is break down barriers – they are starting to mix.
“If you grow up around here you become attached to your area. But what they do not see is that building a gang is what draws in the problem.”
“This project just shows what you can do if you put a bit of money into a community centre.”
Many of the teenagers – now posted to colleges from Pimlico to Paddington – could not be at the exhibition space on Monday. They were enrolling for sixth form. They all complained that there was nothing to do in Bloomsbury and were forced at night to hang out in other parts of London.
Ademola Shaw, a 17-year-old who lives in Bloomsbury and travels four miles to Paddington Academy where he is studying media studies, said: “There’s nothing to do round here. They close the parks at night and there is nowhere to play football. Coram’s Fields is always packed and they close at six. There is only one youth centre – Dragon Hall – and that’s just open six hours a week.”
He added: “The pictures I took were of things you wouldn’t see unless you lived round here.”
• Steps in the Right Direction opens on Friday from 6.30-9.30pm |
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