Crimebeat celebrates 10th anniversary

8:10am Tuesday 25th November 2008

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A ROYAL celebration marked the 10th anniversary of a crime reduction charity Crimebeat.

The Duke of Kent and the king of soaps, William Roache, Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow attended the event on November 13 at Cheshire Constabulary’s headquarters in Winsford.

Almost 300 youth projects across Cheshire have been helped by Crimebeat in the past decade with cash donations of up to £500 from the High Sheriff’s office, which founded the charity.

Crimebeat rewards youth schemes that have a crime reduction message and one of the most popular has been the Hope Challenge. set up by Birchwood Community High School.

The Hope Challenge is a Christian-based concept aiming to give one million hours of kindness by the end of 2008 in the form of practical help by youngsters in the community.

The group of pupils involved in the challenge, some of whom attended the event, played an active role researching social and environmental issues while exploring solutions to known problems in Woolston.

As part of the scheme the youngsters also carried out a range of projects including the production of a DVD and poster giving advice on energy-saving measures.

Frank Harding, Crimebeat co-ordinator, said: “Since 1998 thousands of young people have been involved in Crimebeat assisted schemes ranging from tackling bullying and drugs to beating alcohol-related crime.

“In Cheshire it now helps around 30 projects each year and while Cheshire’s Crimebeat wasn’t the first, it is held in high regard by other parts of the country and the Cheshire team has helped set up Crimebeats in other counties.”

Peter Nurse, chairman of Cheshire Police Authority, added: “Crimebeat is one of our key partners in the fight against crime and disorder.

“The police cannot beat crime on their own and we value organisations such as Crimebeat which does an excellent job in Cheshire.”

Nigel Burgess, the chairman of national Crimebeat, was the Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary from 1997 to 2002.