#YouAreBeautiful

Late 60's and I was running a Youth Club/Community Centre in St Helens Lancashire.

Back in the day ...........

Late 60's and I was running a Youth Club/Community Centre in St Helens Lancashire.

We had moved from our residential work with young offenders - 15 Manchester boys!

We were Houseparents in this special unit.

Joy was born there - pilchards for breakfast for all

INCLUDING baby Joy !

They all fought for her attention - oh what a life it was!

This new club was a YWCA Project in St Helens.

NOT YMCA - and we had a flat above the seven days a week centre.

**  ( Lots of stories in my first book called::
'Gutter Feelings' - search Lulu.com to view / buy)

ADVENTURE AHEAD::

We had never been on he continent - France etc..

So we bought a second hand mini-bus for £30 !

The club boys/men - all bikers - worked on the bus to make it ready to go to France Italy Switzerland and Austria !

The drivers door, that's me, fell off in every country.

It was an old Bedford with a sliding door - such fun.

We made France, through Switzerland to the Italian Riviera but never made Austria!

We discovered a campsite in Italy right on the coastline.

It became a regular annual trip with a different gang of youths each year.

The sun.

The warm sea.

The food!!! - we discovered that they had food there too - so we didn't need to take our instant mash-potato, tin beans/rice pudding etc ............

The Pipturesque above is when some of the team went to a local Italian Church and were welcomed in all the scruff we were.

We had no clue how best to dress for the South of France and Italy !!!!!!!
Camping - sweating etc..

GREAT memories. 

When we moved on from here after 5 years of Youth Work, to our first YMCA work (every place we have worked was residential - living on the job, I think, for about 38 years !

Then, leaving St Helens YMCA - in 1975 we moved to live and work in London -

Canning Town - London E16 ...................

To be continued - I must go and watch the NRL Rugby League on TV - live from Australia !!

I'm back
Great Game
I love my Rugby League
and
Come 2nd August our UK/Euro re starts.
Beef on the bone is back.
comeonyouSAINTS
No crowds
3 Games in the same stadium
Playing catchup on the season halted suddenly C19 !!

So my above was when we moved to Londons East End
Four of us plus cat and canary !!

You can read more about the 10 years here
by searching my www.pipwilson.com 
using guessed key words ..............

Stories Lots of stories good & Bad
What a life!!
More to come ......... life and stories that is .....

✅💲T🅰Y🅱eautiful✅   

BHP

Doing some TV work back in the day

£108m of public money given to PestFix, with 16 employees and net assets of £19,000, for PPE that never appeared.

'Resistance' - 

"£252m of public money given to Ayanda Capital, registered in Mauritius for tax dodging, to supply PPE that never appeared.

£186m of public money given to Uniserve Ltd of Essex, the UK’s largest privately owned logistics and global trade management company, to supply PPE that never appeared.

£116m of public money given to P14 Medical Ltd of Liverpool, which had liabilities exceeding assets by £485,000 in December 2019 with just £145 in the bank, for PPE that never appeared.

£108m of public money given to PestFix, with 16 employees and net assets of £19,000, for PPE that never appeared.

£14.2m and a subsequent £93.2m of public money given to Clandeboye Agencies Ltd, a confectionery wholesaler in Co Antrim, for PPE that never appeared.

£40m of public money given to Medicine Box Ltd of Sutton-in-Ashfield, despite having assets of just £6,000 in March, for PPE that never appeared.

£32m and a subsequent £16m of public money given to Initia Ventures Ltd, filed for dormancy in January this year, for PPE that never appeared.

£28m of public money given to Monarch Acoustics Ltd of Nottingham, makers of shop and office furniture, for PPE that never appeared.

£25m of public money given to Luxe Lifestyle Ltd, to supply garments for biological or chemical protection to the NHS. According to Companies House, the business was incorporated by fashion designer Karen Brost in November 2018. It appears to have no employees, no assets and no turnover.

£18.4m of public money given to Aventis Solutions Ltd of Wilmslow, with just £322 in assets, for PPE that never appeared.

£10m of public money given to Medco Solutions Ltd, incorporated on 26 March (three days after lockdown) with a share capital of just £2, for PPE that never appeared.

£1.1m of public money given to Bristol shoemaker Toffeln Ltd, had seemingly never supplied any PPE whatsoever in the past, for PPE that never appeared.

£825,000 of public money given to MGP Advisory, described as a venture and development capital business that was in danger of being struck off the companies register for failing to file accounts, for no one knows what...

Meanwhile the nurses and carers, of whom over 300 have died whilst trying to save over 65,000 lives that have now been lost, had to resort to wearing bin bags."

A SHOPPING CHALLENGE

Learn to dwell in the UNCOMFORTABLE

I was about to start three new jobs as I departed from the unique/special Romford YMCA Community

Tuesday 2 April 2003.

Yes, I left the Romford YMCA community last night.

18 Years in this special community of hundreds of humans.

Gut wrenching to leave.

Yet I knew it was time to respond to the pull - to become a freelance worker at home & abroad.

 

The last car boot load of files and desk objects etc were loaded with the help of 

Richard, Jacky, Val with Mr Singh in support, 

and I got away by about 9.30pm. 

Feel I have been so busy that I have not had major feelings about going in these latter days. 

Maybe it will run and catch me up in the next four days which I have taken as holiday before I start my three new jobs on Monday.

The last 4 days I have been in Prague with the programme planning group regarding the European YMCA festival (3-9 August) for 8000 YMCA teens. 

It was a working week-end and , never having been to Prague, I feel I need to go and see and enjoy proper!. 

I was asked to go because of my big gig experience, and of course, my involvement with the Greenbelt Festival. 

So the last few days, since the big farewell, have been hectic.

 

It was great beyond words to get a text from the main man Charlie the creator of this web site. 

He said that this new creation website was now launched. 

At the best opportunity in Prague, I was encouraged by friends Jason and Oyvin as we 

grabbed the first ever look at my new website = www.pipwilson.com - Hey hey. 

It happened with a big help from the funky receptionist at our Prague hotel www.arthotel.cz  -

we jumped with joy seeing the first shot of art on my website screen and LOVED IT !!. 

This hotel is recommended if you like style and excellent standards. 

Beautiful! 

Anyway, this is the first blog of many which you can catch almost daily if you place me in your 'favourites' list. -

-live-in-wonder- 

BHP.

Lovers in a dangerous time

"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by You never get to stop and open your eyes One day you're waiting for the sky to fall The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all When you're lovers in a dangerous time Lovers in a dangerous time"

Bruce Cockburn

POLICE are in the news again - I share a story of misuse of power - officialdom.

The Police - I am not one to disrespect the Police

but certain officers let down the fantastic rest by their behaviour.

The MP’s - likewise. Great honest humans again let down my such terrible behaviour and attitudes by the minority.

The Media - again - some, not all, behave in an obnoxious manner in the pursuit of getting a story.

For me - it is like being RACIST  if we treat every human

as bad as a result of a minority behaviour.

THIS, below, is about the experiences I have had whilst standing up for JUSTICE and young people being mistreated - back in the day.

One day I arrived at the Youth Club to be told that Kenny, one of the club members, had been looking for me whilst I had been out. 

He had come to the Club door “with tears in his eyes”, reported my colleague. 

He traced me eventually and blurted out what had happened.

 As a result of hearing his experience, 

I wrote this letter to the chief inspector at the local police station::

A group of young men, known to me, have approached me this afternoon complaining about police harassment at 3.40 pm today at the bus stop on the Barking Road near Bianchi’s café, London E16. 

PC [name deleted for privacy] and another officer are quoted as saying 

“We don’t want to see your faces on the street. 

We are going to be kind today – let you off this time, 

but if we see you again we’re going to nick you for anything – threatening behaviour – insulting behaviour!”

 I really believe that they are telling the truth, and they were genuinely upset about the incident.

Would you be good enough to respond to this letter? 

I would really appreciate your co-operation to enable us all to further better community development around here.

Yours 

Pip Wilson 

Senior Youth Worker

Resulting from Kenny’s initiative and my letter, 

I had a visit from the Chief Inspector which resulted in very good follow-up. 

He had seen and spoken to the officer concerned whose explanation was that he’d been 

“too long on the DSU.” 

DSU is the Divisional Support Unit, which is the local minibus of officers now titled the ‘Instant Response Unit’; 

the kids call it ‘The Wally Wagon’. 

“He’s forgotten how to be an ordinary copper, in touch with the community”, the chief inspector said. 

This interaction seemed to be a very positive way of dealing with police harassment 

and directing teenagers towards less criminal activities.

I was sad to hear some little while later that the constable concerned had applied to, 

and was accepted for, the Special Patrol Group, which has developed an infamous name 

for behaviour that seemed to be opposed to positive community policing.

This case of harassment was not isolated. 

I have a whole file of incidents that were reported to me by our teenage boys, together with details of the names and numbers of the officers involved. 

For example:

1.     Police throwing stink bombs into cells when kids were being held awaiting charges.

2.     Police carrying water pistols in DSU vehicles and shooting at teenagers they passed in the street, or spraying them with water from squeezy bottles.

3.     Wearing comical or novelty masks in vehicles and in police stations, and playing practical jokes on prisoners in the cells.

4.     The wearing of little red flags in the caps of officers while on patrol, according to the number of time they have ‘nicked’ the three most scapegoated teenagers.

5.     Throwing cups of water over prisoners when stripped for forensic purposes.

6.     Physical blows to those arrested.

You may have difficulty in believing all this, but I know it to be true.

It appeared to me that the police were especially abusing young people by using drunk charges unjustly. 

A drunk charge was a minor offence and didn’t warrant legal aid, so the young person had to handle the court and his defence himself. 

You can imagine what a mess an inarticulate, nervous sixteen/seventeen-year-old would make of this. 

The police, however, trained in court procedures, had their patter ready and the teenager had no chance unrepresented.

Through the historic case of McKenzie (McKenzie vs. McKenzie 1970), 

I discovered a way to provide lay assistance to an unrepresented defendant. 

When a certain case in history creates a precedent it then becomes law – 

in the case of McKenzie 

“any person, whether he be professional or not, may attend as a friend of either party, may take notes, may quietly make suggestions and give advice.”

 It often happened that I, as a ‘McKenzie friend’, would stand in the dock with my notes, 

whispering ideas and questions to the youngster as he cross-examined a policeman. 

Usually the young men began nervously but with assistance, 

encouragement and the close proximity of a supportive friend, 

they always grew in confidence. 

It was in itself excellent social education and social skills training, 

but in my experience it never won a case. 

New methods had to be found to fight injustice.

I will post more about more issues & events SOON.

Justice - not just-us.

First published in my Book::
Gutter Feelings

GGreat memories of the years I was a Trainer / Coach at West London YMCA = 🅱🅴🅰🆄🆃🅸🅵🆄🅻 🅷🆄🅼🅰🅽🆂