Media centre

Friday 6 May 2005

MEDIA INVITATION: NO MESSIN’ & WRESTLIN’ IN LEICESTER

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Date: 9 May 2005 Time: 2.30pm –5.00pm Location: St Gabriel’s Community Centre, Kerrysdale Avenue Leicester, LE4 7GH Event: Journalists and photographers are invited to join representatives of Network Rail, The British Wrestling Association and local children for the launch of No Messin’ in Leicester. Qualified Coaches from the British Wrestling Association will be running wrestling sessions and spreading the No Messin’ message to children at St Gabriel’s Community Centre. Media contact: Hazel Moss 0121 345 3098 Network Rail’s No Messin campaign is being launched in Leicester, one of the Midlands most notorious railway crime hotspots. St Gabriel’s Community Centre is very close where 15-year-old Tyler Deacon was killed on the railway in 2003. Tyler was killed instantly when he was struck by a train he was trying to race against at Gipsy Lane, Northfields,. A spokesman for Network Rail said: ”Our message is clear – No Messin in Leicester. Every week young people are reported to be trespassing on the railway, taking short cuts and risking their lives just like Tyler Deacon. Railway tracks are not a playground and this campaign will help to highlight the dangers and give local kids some fun alternatives as the longer evenings and summer holidays draw nearer.” A team of qualified coaches from the British Wrestling Association will be running a six-week coaching course at St Gabriel’s Centre aimed at all children in the Leicester area. The course aims to show local children that there are better, safer ways to spend their time than risking their lives by playing on the railway, and to avoid any further tragedies like the death of Tyler Deacon.