Thursday was clean up day for the Cluny Team. We went to St Lukes Community Centre and helped do some gardening and cleaning windows there and we also cleared an alley behind the row of shops on Cluny Square and also went into a couple of residents houses to do a couple of jobs which they requested. Below is a story of what happened with a couple of the local lads:
"In order to save time, we had split into two teams to start at 2 different ends of the alley and then we would meet in the middle. Now some of the boys (a PCSO later told me they were very well known to them and always caused trouble) who caused trouble yesterday came along and started egging the group of us at the other end to me. They then came down to me and i thought they were going to throw eggs at me. They stopped and asked me what i was doing so i explained i was clearing up the rubbish to make the alley look nice. They turned round and said why? So i replied `I am doing it as a favour to the community as an example of love.' One of the boys then turned round and said to me `I will show you a example of man love if you come back to my house' to which i laughed and said it is not quite the same thing, I explained we were talking about God's love. He said `well thats odd isnt it?' To which I said `Yes and what's odder is we all paid £20 to do this'. This really threw them and the conversation carried on as to why we would pay to pick up rubbish. We talked about the fun day etc. Anyway the boys went off and didn't egg us anymore which i thought was very cool. About half hour later they came back and actually started to help us. It was only for about 15 minutes but they were picking up litter etc. which just blew me away. It just goes to show what can happen if you challenge people's mindsets."
The PCSOs spoke to me today and they said how very impressed with the job we had done behind the flats and how clear the alley looked. Also local cmmunity leaders such as John Barber also commented on how great the job was. Finally check out www.ferndale.org.uk/news to find out more reaction from the Reverend Steven Dray.
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