Campaign group launched to cut violence in Blackburn (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Campaign group launched to cut violence in Blackburn
10:41am Wednesday 8th July 2009 in
-
- By Emma Cruces » Reporter
AN internet group calling for Blackburn to be made safer has been started by relatives of people attacked in the town.
Organisers of Facebook group Make Blackburn A Safer Place are raising awareness of violent attacks in the town which have led to serious brain injury and death.
Organisers of the group include Zy Bar landlord James Foley, 32, who was left fighting for his life when attacked on his stag night, and 27-year-old Rachel Baxter, who lost her brother in a violent attack a month ago.
They joined forces with Blackburn DJ Kirk Bullen, who suggested starting the group after an attack put his uncle in intensive care with serious head injuries.
The group has proved to be a Facebook hit, with 1,127 members who have posted their own views online.
Rachel from Shadsworth, whose brother Christopher Folkes, 36, died after an alleged attack in Queen’s Park said: “Blackburn as a whole seems to be getting more violent.
"It makes me want to move out to escape the problems. I’ve heard of people who don’t want to report attacks or who have been threatened with violence to leave the park.”
James, who was kicked in the head by a nightclub doorman in Blackpool in 2005, said his experience as well as running a bar meant he was very conscious of problems surrounding violence in Blackburn.
He added: “My attacker was out of jail in five months but it was six months before I could even go back to work.
"I postponed my wedding and I still have problems with memory loss.
"Even so, I’m one of the lucky ones.”
The group is planning to host a charity night at Zy Bar in aid of brain injury association Headway and other charities on Sunday, August 30.
DI Neil Ashton at Blackburn CID said he welcomed anything that would help tackle violent crime in the town.
He said: “It affects each victim and their families to a huge extent.
"Their confidence and perception of safety is completely threatened.
“It is a serious matter and so anything which helps us tackle it is welcomed.
"This year, figures for violent crime are slightly reduced, and life-threatening incidents are much lower – down by about 24 per cent.
“If raising awareness in this way can help improve matters even further it can only be welcomed.”
Comments(12)
Ken Shuffles
says...
2:14pm Wed 8 Jul 09
Stopping violence is a very rosy concept, it's a nice idea but one that is impossible to fulfill.
There MUST be another way, not another formula, and People need to be willing to look for it.
Every generation will come up with another formula, another catchphrase, another concept fad about a non violent world.
There HAS to be another way than the way we keep thinking about resolving violence.
Ken Shuffles
says...
2:16pm Wed 8 Jul 09
djsparky
says...
3:16pm Wed 8 Jul 09
I created the group on facebook.. the intensions wasn't to Halt all Violence as it is a impossibilty.. the reason the group has been formed is to try to make people aware of what is happening.. Especially youngsters.. i remember when police used to go around to schools showing the dangers of what an electric shock can do?? .. Or.. How to cross a road safely ... Why can't there be a group that goes around to schools and shows the dangers of what a kick to the head can do? how it affects familys? the aim for the group is to try to have something done. But i do respect what your saying.. But im very positive about the Group.
Hopping mad
says...
4:37pm Wed 8 Jul 09
That said I know that the problem will never go away as there is and always going to be an minority that have aggressive tendancies. I think also that more can be done about the elements that cause aggression. Family breakdown, alcohol and drug problems, gang culture and peer pressure not only need to be looked at within adults but could be addressed at school making them more aware from a young age.
If only we as a people had more courage like this lady, we would not only be able to be a little bit safer but our children and grand children would be safer. So I say thank you to Jame and Rachel for the hope.
staceyball
says...
5:29pm Wed 8 Jul 09
brfcianbrfc
says...
5:50pm Wed 8 Jul 09
punkmum
says...
7:14pm Wed 8 Jul 09
Since the death of Sophie Lancaster , kicked and stamped to death for being a "mosher", I have managed the myspace/inmemoryofso
phie on behalf of her mother, Sylvia , who set up the S.O.P.H.I.E campaign.
It has been an incredibly positive way to connect people and raise awareness of the issue of , in our case, violence against people from alternative subcultures,metalhea
ds,punks, goths and emos etc.
Good luck with the site, it has to be better than doing nothing and if it helps save one person suffering extreme violence or death then it has been worth all your efforts
sincere condolences to all who have lost their loved ones and best wishes to the survivors
Kate Conboy-Greenwood
voluntary campaign manager
The Sophie Lancaster Foundation
pete08
says...
11:13pm Wed 8 Jul 09
good luck and my thoughts are with you and your family rachel x
Cadhay
says...
12:23am Fri 10 Jul 09
Ken Shuffles
says...
1:58pm Sat 11 Jul 09
I need to feel Kindness. People respond well to Kindness. Do we Invite the Kindness we need, or do we react to the Violence we don't need.
Perhaps, where there should always be a response for more and more Kindness we have ushered in a reaction to the violence.?
What we never need is Violence. What we always need is Kindness.
Carnage or Kindness ?
Ken Shuffles
says...
2:00pm Sat 11 Jul 09
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CAMPAIGN: Rachel Baxter on the Facebook site Make Blackburn A Safer Place as they bid to halt violence
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Ken Shuffles says...
2:03pm Wed 8 Jul 09
Unhappy People rely on alcohol and there are plenty of non violent People selling it to them.
A Person who is deemed to be safe to be around can become a violent threat in a fifth of a second.