Duffield Scene November 2005 Letters and Emails |
Duffield Scene Article October 6th 2005. Dear Barrie, thanks for publishing my article ‘Give Us A Chance’ in the September issue of the Duffield Scene. After reading the piece written by Mr Chambers in the October issue I have decided to write another article in response to further findings that my friends and I have discovered since my last article. I would really appreciate if the article was published in the next issue of the Duffield Scene. I would like to know if you have any other readers article which were sent to you that you could possibly email me so I can see how people feel, I don’t believe Mr Chambers was the only one. Thanks. To all the residents of Duffield, I write to you with response to the article “The Decline Of Duffield Continues”, published in the October issue of the Duffield Scene. I am the author of the “Give Us A Chance” article. Whilst reading Mr Chambers’ letter I went through a number of emotions including genuine interest, anger and disbelief at some of the comments put forward. I have written this article to try and distance my friends and I from any trouble that may have arisen from past weeks and to put forward new views and opinions of the so called ‘gangs of youths’ within Duffield. In ‘Point1’ of his argument he made the statement that gangs of 30 youths congregate around Duffield sometimes drinking underage. I have discovered recently that the groups who you refer to are youngsters aged between 13 and 16. I reiterate my ‘excuse’ that there is nowhere to go in Duffield for them to ‘hang out and socialise’ but I will come back to that point later. In ‘Point2’ he accepts that I am the voice of the youth of Duffield within this argument but he asks who is writing on behalf of the youths from outside the village who come down to Duffield to cause trouble. My answer to this is simple. The ‘youths from outside’ total up to around 75% of the ‘gangs’ found wandering around the streets at night, yet why I here you ask? Well, the reason is this. They see Duffield as the place where their friends are and see it as an ideal place to meet up and socialise on places like Eyes Meadow, Grays Rec and Duffield Meadows. They see it as a place where there is little chance of being caught drinking, loitering etc. This point alone shows that it mainly isn’t the youth of Duffield causing problems! If you compare Duffield to other villages and towns across the county we are ‘angels’ compared to them! Look at Chaddesden and Alvaston for example and you’ll see my point! ‘Point4’ made me feel angry, Mr Chambers accuses us of ‘stealing’ from shops to get our alcohol. My response to point4 is this. The cost of a night’s beer is cheap, £5 will get you approximately 8 cans of beer, depending on where you buy it, and there wouldn’t be a chance of getting £20 worth of beer in a single bag. Who buys it us you ask? Either our parents (shock, horror), who can still remember the days in their youth when they would get drunk and have some fun (not damaging property ill add), or elder members of our families (brothers, sisters etc…) who again remember only a few years ago when they were doing the same things as us. Don’t ever accuse us of stealing! Duffield is a village which is getting larger every year and more and more children are moving into the area, a lot of them youngsters starting at Ecclesbourne. The point made about the fact that Duffield Squash, Tennis, Football and other sports clubs offer us a great deal to do is simply false. I myself play for Duffield Cricket Club and have played for Duffield Dynamo’s. Football; Sunday morning, Cricket; Saturday and Sunday afternoon in the summer, squash, tennis and golf; too expensive! The point that you miss is that these only offer places to go at certain times. What about in the evening or at night? This is the problem area because we have no where to socialise without being hounded out of everywhere that we go which gets increasingly frustrating and the fact that we receive constant accusations of anti-social behaviour. As I said earlier the problem is both the age group of 13-16 year olds and of youths from outside of Duffield causing trouble in the area. ‘Something must be done’, I agree but in the form of banning drinking in the streets, accusing Duffield youth of being disrespectful and ‘shaming the reputation of Duffield’ (which I once heard being shouted at me from a distance), but we need to address the problem of facilities within the village to allow teenagers to have fun and socialise together in a safe environment and to give us somewhere to go. Soon my friends and I will be heading of for the dizzy heights of university and I can’t help but wonder that if something isn’t done within the village then the problem will only get worse within the lower age groups as more and more children look for somewhere to go and socialise within Duffield! I ask for residents to believe us when we say the main problem isn’t the youths of DUFFELD but from others OUTSIDE of the area which amount to the problem. Believe in us. Why don’t we arrange some meetings with the parish and the youth of the village to discuss the problem instead of the adults deciding everything and accusing us of so many things? My friends and I are willing to attend. About the "anti social behaviour" I can't beleive what i read on the Duffield Village News website. You honestly think you have a anti social behaviour problem compared to the bigger citys? Also it shouldn't be blamed on the youths, its to much of a general word. Its acusations like this which can ruin reputations. The attitude which i saw from the Duffild Scene article to me does not represent the true meaning of Duffield. Re Nothing to do in village How I agree with the sentiments of Mr D Chambers. Because we’re bored is not an acceptable reason for these youths to be wandering the streets drinking. I am familiar with the previous young letter writer and am afraid to say agree with very little of what he says. He has an extremely busy social life and participates in many clubs and teams. It’s not a case of “nothing to do in Duffield” but more peer group pressure. My main point is though if you have groups of “thirty youths” roaming Duffield what are thirty sets of parents doing? Do they know where there offspring are, do they care? If these parents bore more responsibility for there children and knew where they were then this would not be an issue. Paul Attenborrow. Response to the Decline of Duffield POINT 1: My friend was present at the incedent where the police were called near park road and it was not fuelled by the cans in the picture thats just a unjustified conclusion. POINT 2: There is actually nothing to do in the evenings in duffield all the things said in the letter are at weekends or in the day and what if thet cant play sport and fast food outlets is not somthing to do. If there was something to do at night then maybe people wouldnt have parties or get drunk because they could do something else such as they could get bands on friday nights to play at the weston centre and maybe a pool club. POINT 3: Apparently drinking in the streets is not illegal POINT 4: Kids do actually have no money only a few have any money from a part time job such as a paper round or somthing and they dont get much money usually less than 15 pounds a week which we are not going to spend in one go at UCI plus there is no bus that goes to the cinema. POINT 5: Mr.D. Chambers please do not insult the youth of duffield by sending in letters that have no evidence of being true, may i remind you that if you lived anywhere else you would be in the situation you found yourself in on the 24th of September more often.Regards, the D.M.O. (Duffield Mafia Orphans) |