Blue Light Disco goes off without a hitch

Feb 22 2008 By Richard Mooney

BELLSHILL’S Blue Light Disco went off with no problems on Saturday night, but had a disappointing turn out with only 30 young people.

Young people attending the Blue Light Disco had to enter through a metal detector and face a compulsory breathalyser test in which they had to produce a zero reading to be allowed entry.

Strathclyde police officers also carried out random searches on the young people attending.

Approximately 200 young people were expected to attend the event which was its first of its kind in the North Lanarkshire area.

The initiative was organised in conjunction with workers from the Bellshill YMCA, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, North Lanarkshire Council, NHS Lanarkshire, Generation Youth and Young Scot.

Allan Wylie, Community safety officer for Strathclyde Police said: “People complain about youngsters hanging outside shops and so on. So that’s why we’re providing the Blue Light Disco, a place where they can chill out, have a good time and talk to their friends.”

“A lot of youngsters see the police as a barrier, so this is another way for us to show the kids that we’re not the big bad guys and that we’re here to keep the community safe.

“Some of the youngsters are absolutely magic and we’re really enjoying it.”

Commenting on the problem of underage drinking in North Lanarkshire he added: “Most of the young people we pick up at the weekend have been involved in a fight or vandalism and a fair percentage of them have had something to drink.”

“As a country we need to look right across the board and change our attitude towards drink.”

Vicky Staward, Community Learning and Development Worker deals with young people on a regular basis and believes anti social behavioural problems are much deeper rooted than alcohol.

She said: “Underage drinking is a huge problem in the Bellshill area. But I think problems like anti social behaviour and violence go much deeper than that.

“Some of them come from second or third generation unemployed, so I think it would be a bit naive to blame everything on alcohol. It’s much deeper rooted.”
The organisers were disappointed about the attendance but remained up beat that the night was still a success. 

Brian McGuire, Brian McGuire, Bellshill Fire Station Commander said: “The numbers were a bit disappointing but as far as I’m concerned the fact that tonight has happened is a success.”

Sharon Simpson, Public Health Practitioner for NHS Lanarkshire within Bellshill Locality said about the turn out: “We possibly didn’t have as many here as we would have liked but it’s over 30 young people that aren’t hanging about the streets tonight.”

Laura Campbell, a Youth Project Worker for Bellshill and Mossend YMCA added: “The thing to focus on is that its first time its happened, so there is going to be teething problems but at the end of the day 30 young people is better than none. “

Two lucky youngsters went home with a Wii and an Ipod from the Disco’s raffle competition.

A future ‘Blue Light Disco’ is in the plans, but will be further discussed once the organisers meet and review Saturday night’s event.