Media centre

Friday 29 Apr 2005

MEDIA INVITATION: NO MESSIN’ & WRESTLIN’ IN SLOUGH

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

| Southern

Date:                           4 May 2005 Time:                          11am Location:                    Haymill Youth & Community Centre, 112 Burnham Lane, Slough, SL1 6LZ 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 Slough.  Qualified Coaches from the British Wrestling Association will be running wrestling sessions and spreading the No Messin’ message to children at the Haymill Centre. Media contact:          Ben Herbert 020 7557 8107                                                 ben.herbert@networkrail.co.uk Network Rail’s No Messin campaign is being launched in Slough, one of the south’s most notorious railway crime hotspots.  Last year there were nearly 100 reported incidents of railway crime in the Slough, Taplow and Windsor areas.  Incidents included trespass, stone throwing, objects placed on the track and children playing chicken with high speed trains. A spokesman for Network Rail said: ”Our message is clear – No Messin in Slough.  Every week young people are reported to be trespassing on the railway, taking short cuts and risking their lives.  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 6 week coaching course at Haymill Youth & Community Centre aimed at children who have been excluded from schools in the Slough area.  Pupils from Beechwood Secondary School are also taking part.  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.