Confession Time

I haven't forgotten what kicked this off for me, it was Horsell Common. However, I've been there a number of times and succeeded only in meeting three lads, with no alcohol, who wanted to be accountants. Hence I started to wonder what God really wanted of me - which is how Outside Light came about. Well, it seems I've taken my eye off the ball, because this extract came in from Josh Parish who is the local NSO (Neighbouhood Support Officer) for Horsell. It makes interesting reading and together with everything else that's happening, it's further confirmation of the massive need there is for streetwork with young people in the town. From what's written here, there's also a need for some parents to start looking at their parenting skills. I try to remain non-judgemental in everything I do. As an ex estate agent I know what it's like to be labelled; therefore I refuse to label anyone else because of their job or where they live, or the colour of their clothes or their skin. I really don't care and you'll never find me railing at a traffic warden if he's caught me breaking the rules (With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. James 3:9). For me it's what people do that counts and so I can't fail to express shock and discomfort at the penultimate sentence of the extract from Josh's report.

"Anti social behaviour incidents are very low considering the weather. That said, Wheatsheaf Common is proving to be the busy area this year. 2 weeks ago I was on nights and I had to spend 3 hours with approximately 150 youths on the common. These youths were from all over Woking Borough and there was the potential for a public order incident if they remained unchecked. On my arrival another 50+ ran off carrying bags of alcohol and disappeared into the sunset. This weekend another one of our neighbourhood teams attended the common and managed to seize a small off licence's worth of alcohol. The most concerning thing for us is that it seems that it is the parents who are happily leaving their children for the night to congregate on the common. At 2300 on the Friday of that weekend we cleared everyone off and one 15 year old girl remained. We asked her why she wasn;t going and she said that she wasn't being picked up until 2315 as her parents were in London. It is a difficult job for us to prevent anti social behaviour across the Borough of Woking and this is made more difficult if the parents aren't fully supporting us."

Sorry if I seem angry. It's because I am.

John