Young people scoop top police awards

Kumon Y’all and Thornhill 1 Community were awarded second and third place in the West Yorkshire Police Communities Trust i13 Awards.

The groups beat off competition from 28 other groups across the county at an awards ceremony last month.

The i13 project challenged young people to take part in a project that would have a positive impact in their communities over the summer holidays.

Groups could apply for funding to help kick start their projects and the top three won cash to keep their projects going.

A group of 16 volunteers aged from 12 to 14 from Kumon Y’all carried out cooking and pamper sessions as well as a community clean up around Thornhill Lees to help build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim members of the community.

Together 1 Community painted, cleaned and litter-picked around Thornhill and Thornhill Community Academy for a week in July.

Members of Kumon Y’all and Together 1 Community each gave presentations on the work they had done their plans for community projects in the future.

Farook Yunus, the founder Kumon Y’all said: “We’re very glad that our girls’ group won second prize – it just shows that if young people are given opportunities, a lot can be achieved.”

Safer School officer PC Jude Ford, who supported the Thornhill 1 Community team, said: “These projects have enabled young people to be more involved with their community, which has hopefully established new relationships.”

First prize went to Frizinghall Girls Group in Bradford.

Simon Phillips, community engagement officer, said: “We were extremely impressed by the quality of i13 entries. All of the projects testify to the fact that community problems can be solved by the communities themselves.”