Children are crying out for support
By Hayden Ó Mórdha
CHILDREN are crying out for support and getting frustrated according to a local community centre, who have suffered the brunt of anti-social behaviour since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fettercairn Community and Youth Centre has had to close its premises several times over the past year as a result of ongoing vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
John, Phil, Horse, Gerry, Mick and Brian had a social distance gathering. The lads had gathered as Gerry Geraghty from The Fettercairn Coffee Dock was doing his last shift on Friday before retiring after 19 years service
“In the past the kids would come in to Foroige, the Youth Café, the football, the guitar classes after school,” centre manager Phil McAdam tells The Echo.
“The rapport with the kids is fantastic, four or five times a year we’d have projects with them, and they really are all fantastic children.
“Since the start of Covid, they have had so many things taken away from them.
“I can see that they’re getting frustrated with the lack of supports and I’d say it’s only 0.5 per cent of the children in the area causing the issues.”
Within the grounds of the centre, it houses several bottle banks which are open to the community.
The centre, which is a multi-purpose resource providing social, recreational, educational and entertainment outlets, has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of responsibility.
“The root of the issue is adults come to the bottle bank with their jars and bottles and they seem to think it’s okay to dump the bag or box full of glass next to the bank, instead of putting them into it,” McAdam explains.
“Kids being kids then come in and throw the bottles around the carpark, playground and astro park.
“See the bottles make a loud pop when they smash, the kids don’t mean any real malice or understand the level of damage they’re doing really.
Phil McAdam, Fettercairn Community and Youth Centre manager
“But as a result, I come in, in the morning then and I have to lock the grounds off for health and safety reasons until I can sweep it all up.
“Because this has been going on for a number of months, we made the decision to shut the place down.
“It’s not as a punishment thing, it’s just not safe for children or people in general to be in here.”
With the centre closed due to Covid-19, the staff is not available to patrol and clean the grounds as they usually would.
Since March of last year, when lockdowns were first implemented as a means to curb the spread of coronavirus, there has been 9 incidents involving vandalism at Fettercairn Community Youth Centre.
According to the centre manager, the bottle banks are never full and are emptied every three-to-four weeks but despite this, the issue persists.
They have also had issues with gangs of teenagers hanging around the centre at nighttime engaging in anti-social behaviour, leading to further vandalism.
“It’s on the adults to take some responsibility and just put the bottles in the banks, and general community action is required,” McAdam says.
“We would welcome any help from the community to come over and help.”
Circling back around to the children in Fettercairn, he adds: “This is a low-income area and it is a DEIS area, without having the supports in place, it is very hard to control any anti-social behaviour.
“I’ve met so many great people in Fettercairn and I’m wary of painting this area as anti-social and out of control because it’s not.
“Kids need supports and are crying out for attention.
“The reality is that we need adults to take responsibility for their community.”
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