Junior wardens employed in Rochdale

Gulnaz Karabulat– Front, Rowan Brandon- back to camera, Megan Biggins- right

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) has developed a Junior Warden Scheme which proved to be such a success in its pilots that it will now be rolled out across more areas.

Ruth Sillence, Communities First Co-ordinator for RBH, said: “As many social landlords will appreciate, it is very difficult to find a sustainable method of working with children and young people in the community. However, the RBH Junior Warden scheme seems to have really ‘hit the spot’.”

The scheme was launched at the company’s Freehold estate during a week in the Easter holidays when RBH recognised that many children would be bored and looking for something to do.

The idea was for RBH and its partners to provide fun activities which at the same time included essential messages about citizenships and community.

The ultimate objective however, was to sign people up to be Junior Wardens and commit to longer term involvement.

Playing and working with the local caretakers, park wardens, fire-fighters and the Council’s youth offending team seems to have paid off already. There are now 43 young people on the Junior Warden register with an average of 15 people attending every week.

Ms. Sillence went on to add: “We want this group to actively participate in their community.

“As well as promoting citizenship RBH Junior Wardens will also ensure they develop confidence which will help unlock their potential.”

RBH Junior Wardens will organise local events, report back on what they like and dislike about the area, promote their community and will also have an RBH Junior Warden uniform to make them a visible part of the estate.

The success of this first pilot means RBH will now be rolling out the schemes to other estates in Rochdale during the school summer holiday.

Ms. Sillence concluded: “If we manage to replicate the success of the pilot scheme we could have over 100 RBH Junior Wardens operating on our larger estates. This will provide us with a unique opportunity to tap into the opinions of our younger residents and let them have a say in the services we provide.”