We have had a fantastic summer, launching new CAPs in Tonbridge, Bradford West, Thatcham, Farley Hill Luton, Ryde and South West Edinburgh, which bring our total for the year so far to 12 new CAPs in 24 areas across the country.
 

The school holidays are always a busy time for CAPs, which put on lots of activities for young people and attend festivals and events to promote CAP’s work and engage with local communities. Read below for highlights from around the UK this summer.

We have an inspiring set of speakers at our CAP celebration event at the Welsh Assembly on October 9, with an agenda packed with great insights from top practitioners and academics.

Our opening speech is from Janet Finch-Saunders AM, who is kindly sponsoring the event. This will be followed by our keynote speaker, Jack Andrews from University College London, who will talk about risk-taking behaviour among young people. Josh Connolly of the National Association of Children of Alcoholics will discuss children affected by parental alcohol issues and Alun Michael will talk about his work as the police and crime commissioner for South Wales.

We will be working closely with the Smashed Project in CAPs around the UK this year, so if you haven’t seen their educational theatre initiative that sets out to break the culture of underage drinking and reduce alcohol related harm amongst young people, now is your chance!

There will also be an update from CAP chair Derek Lewis and of course, the annual CAP awards which celebrate the great work that is happening in communities around the UK.

We’re really excited by this year’s celebration, and grateful to Janet Finch-Saunders AM for sponsoring it at such a great location.  So do come along! If you’d like more information, contact Gillian Powell, CAP Programme Manager: gillian@communityalcoholpartnerships.co.uk
 

We are making good progress setting up a Young Health Champions programme in Barrow, with 10 young people starting a 12 week course in October with an awards evening planned for December. The Brathay Trust has kindly agreed to provide a free residential event for the champions to plan future activities. This programme is a pilot, with a view to training more Youth Health Champions in 2019.

Also in Barrow, more than 500 people attended the 'Be Well' festival where the CAP was represented to raise awareness of its work. Tesco and Asda are supporting summer activities for young people by providing healthy eating sessions and work continues on the development of a bus project which will provide a diversionary activities in the area. Partners report that there have been few reports of underage drinking and ASB so far this summer.

CAP partners from Ribble Valley and Burnley CAPs supported the CANsafe operation at the Beat-Herder festival near Sawley in Lancashire in July. CANsafe promotes the safeguarding of young people on the streets or in public areas who might be vulnerable or at risk of harm. As under-18s are only allowed entry to the festival with a responsible adult, the team focused on restricting unauthorised access by under-18s and were on site during the festival to contribute to the welfare of vulnerable youngsters. They dealt with 134 under 18s over the weekend. Of those, 125 left the site and nine were allowed entry or returned to the festival.

In July representatives from a wide range of agencies gathered at Tonbridge Castle to celebrate the launch of the new Tonbridge CAP, where they were joined by Nicholas Heslop, the Leader of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling and CAP Chair Derek Lewis.  There was a stunning performance from Hillview School for Girls and Tonbridge Grammar School which showed the key role that schools play within CAP.  Read more here.

The Farley Hill (Luton) CAP was launched at an engagement event in June organised by the Community Team at Bedfordshire Police. The event was also attended by representatives of Luton Borough Council and ResoLUTiONs, which offers crime prevention advice. The day focused on issues raised by the community, including drinking, drugs and nuisance biking. CAP showed its pavement stencil outside the Co-op, which warns adults not to buy alcohol on behalf of children. It was a successful day which received a warm welcome and excellent feedback from local businesses and residents.

The Hastings, Ore CAP received funding from the Local Alcohol Partners Group to commission a mixologist to demonstrate non-alcoholic drink mixing over the summer holidays and discuss the damage alcohol can cause to young people.  

CAP co-ordinator Neil Butcher has been busy throughout Kent, stenciling pavement messages warning adults not to buy alcohol for children and raising awareness of CAP in the community.  CAP stencils were also used in Broadstairs and Ramsgate during Folk Week in August and all retailers visited and given extra advice.

And in Tower Hamlets, our Poplar CAP is working on setting up responsible retail training for all retailers across the area with the help of Tesco. In Check25 visits conducted by Serve Legal, a disappointing 11 out of 14 premises failed.

Thatcham CAP launched in July following a survey of 382 11-17 year olds, in which 69% said they drank alcohol. Data from the Clinical Commissioning Group indicates that the annual cost of alcohol related admissions in Thatcham was £43,000. The CAP has already started work on Young Health Champions training, which will start in October at Kennet and Trinity Schools.  

The Ryde, Isle of Wight CAP launched in June after a survey of under-18s found that of 617 respondents, 25 per cent drank alcohol once or twice a month, 13 per cent drank at least once a week and six per cent drank every day or almost every day.

And in Reading, the CAP brought back its hugely successful alcohol-themed Manga drawing project for 13-24 year olds during the school holidays. 

Our Bradford West CAP was launched in July at the Lower Grange Community Centre, with speakers including Councillor Sinead Engel, Craig Watkins of The Co-op, Sgt Paul Riley of West Yorkshire Police and Ward Officer Nicole Stott. It will cover Thornton, Allerton, Clayton, Fairweather Green and Lower Grange.

Alnwick CAP took part in a Week of Action in July, which included a wide range of activities including engagement with schools, stencilling outside off-licences, 'Street Doctors' delivering lessons on first aid at house parties and a local artist painting half a picture with an alcohol misuse message for young people to copy whilst wearing beer googles.  

The Sutton in Ashfield, Huthwaite and Selston CAPs took part in an Action Week to highlight their work and engage the community. They staffed table displays in the market and shopping areas and Nottinghamshire Youth Service brought their youth engagement bus along. Youth alcohol hotspots were targeted by Community Wardens, when over 50 alcohol containers were seized and subsequent visits to parents took place. And in Skegness, another successful Week of Action saw with engagements with both secondary schools, displays at the main shopping centre, support to off-licences and stencilling. 

The NE Edinburgh CAP has been involved with Tesco and Sainsbury’s in joint patrols to support off-licences and we are delighted that ASDA and Lidl have now joined the partnership.

Although it was only launched in May, the Pontypridd CAP set a up lots of activities over the summer including a graffiti project that will look to improve the look of one area of the town.  The Youth Offending Team has now started the Young Health Champions Course with 10 young people and all the youth clubs across the Pontypridd and Porth Area will be taking part in a Dragons’ Den event when they will plan a campaign to combat underage drinking.

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