Time for young people in Rochdale to U-Nite!

This year's community cohesion event, U-Nite is taking place this Thursday, 9 August at Hopwood Hall Campus, Middleton.

U-Nite is a yearly event which is structured around a range of fun and serious workshops, which are aimed at young people in the borough of Rochdale, who are aged between 12 -16.

Any youngsters who want to get involved in the event should arrive at the Middleton Campus of Hopwood Hall College at 10:00 am to register. The young people are then split up into teams and assigned a youth worker and a Police Officer or PCSO, who will accompany the team throughout the day.

Each team will get involved in six workshops which include:

• Team building with the Fire and Rescue Service
• Team building with Fairbridge Rochdale
• Team building with Rochdale Football Club
• A presentation and discussion by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Greater Manchester Police on ASB and alcohol
• A presentation and discussion by Young Asian Women Group on safety on the streets
• A presentation and discussion by Rochdale Centre of Diversity and Greater Manchester Police on community cohesion and discrimination

U-Nite aims to break down the barriers between young people from different backgrounds and provide an opportunity for them to question agencies in their community.

Lunch will be provided at 1:30 pm. The last workshop finishes at 5:30 pm. The young people are then invited back to a disco, buffet lunch and a presentation of prizes to the best team and the best individual. The disco starts at 7:00 pm.

U-Nite has been recognised as an example of good practice for community cohesion partnership working.

Tom Byrne, Chairman of the U-Nite meeting said: "U-Nite events have provided both our staff and young people several positive opportunities. Young people from different backgrounds and cultures work together with statutory agencies in order to highlight and tackle their concerns. They have also benefited from non-confrontational discussions with police officers regarding local policing and its carious impacts upon young people."