good stuff

PATTY BHOY · April 22, 2009

Carrick and District Pigeon Racing Club members will working together with Community Safety to deliver a project called "Doo The Right Thing" they will be giving up a lot of their free time to assist the young people in this project.The project involves young people in the care and development of a team of racing pigeons gifted to them by members of a local pigeon club. There are a number of young people in the Maybole area who are regularly involved in antisocial behaviour, mainly related to under age or binge drinking. This project encourages these young people to become junior members of an established pigeon racing club in Maybole. This will help give young people confidence and enable them to develop meaningful links with older members of the community in Maybole and share a common goal.

Each young person involved in the project will take responsibility for rearing, training and eventually racing young pigeons given to them by members of the club. Pigeon Club members will work with members of the Community Safety Team and will help the young people and provide support and information to them. The young people will take responsibility for feeding, cleaning and assisting in training, and all aspects of maintaining a healthy pigeon loft.

The young people involved in the project will be given free membership of the local pigeon club, and will be supported to participate in racing with the Ayrshire North Road Federation for the duration of the young bird season. Diplomas will be presented to those involved at the end of the year.

One of the most important aspects of this programme will be in encouraging responsibility among the young people involved to take ownership of the care and maintenance of the pigeon loft, and to ensure that this interest is sustained through membership of the local club. Regular session with the young people will be arranged on Friday evenings which is the key â€œdrinking timeâ€ for them in Maybole. Failure to take part in these sessions will mean they will be unable to take proper care of their bird and will not be able to compete in subsequent races.

This initiative will allow the development of a programme, not related specifically to sport, which can be enjoyed by a mixed group of girls and boys, and will enable the Community Safety Team to engage with targeted young people in a different format, while providing a wider choice of diversionary activity for young people.We will also be involved in delivering a â€œDoo the Right Thingâ€ class project in Cairn Primary School. The schoolchildren will have workbooks to fill in and they will also be allocated a pigeon at the beginning of the season and they will receive regular updates/pictures etc... Informing them of the progress of their pigeon. Prizes and certificates will be handed out at the end of the season.