South Ayrshire Council News

Councillors John Hampton and Margaret Toner at the special TAYP awards ceremony for 22 young people

Twenty-two young people from Carrick have been awarded certificates of recognition for their hard work and efforts in a recent outdoor activity project.

The awards were handed out during a special meeting of the ‘Targeted Approach to Young People’ project (TAYP), held at Maybole Town Hall.

TAYP targets young people at risk of, or involved in, substance misuse within South Ayrshire and ran the outdoor activities over a series of six sessions from October last year until March 2008.

During each session, up to six young people attended a Team building day followed one week later by an overnight Stay - either wild camping or a night in a bothy.

Councillor Margaret Toner, who chairs South Ayrshire Council's Community Safety Partnership said: "I was delighted that so many young people have benefited from the TAYP project. There is no doubt that the outdoor activites were enjoyed by all and the very positive results speak for themselves."

Outdoor activities were made available through the Adventure Centre for Education (ACE) based in Girvan and the success of the project was evaluated by South Ayrshire Council’s Community Safety Partnership, ACE and other referral agencies.

The project’s main aim is to educate the young people on alternatives to substance misuse and, at the same time, offer environmental education.

It’s a mixture that works well and the approach has been paying dividends, with one young person now employed by the Forestry Commission through Project Scotland.

Another young school leaver has taken up a voluntary position with ACE through the summer months and in return he will receive further participation in outdoor activities.

Councillor John Hampton, Young Persons' Champion agreed and said: "It's great to see twenty two young people rewarded for getting involved in this worthwhile scheme. Many of them said they had a lot of fun and it was so different to what the would normally do that it made them think twice about substance abuse. That's a real result and I am very pleased to have been a part of this."