NETWORK RAIL ‘KICKS OFF’ SLADE YOUTH GROUP

Thursday 23 Sep 2004

NETWORK RAIL ‘KICKS OFF’ SLADE YOUTH GROUP

Region & Route:

More than 30 young footballers from the Walsden and Todmorden areas will be ‘kicked off’ by railway infrastructure owner Network Rail – but it’s all in a good cause. The official opening of the Slade Youth Group kicks off at Walsden Methodist Church on Rochdale Road at 6.30pm on Friday 24 September and Network Rail is sponsoring the team football strip, footballs, goalposts and nets. Alex Pilling, external liaison officer for Network Rail, contacted the group because they play football directly behind the railway line running through Todmorden. Ms Pilling said: “We had previously had reports of local teenagers messing around on the tracks and daring each other to run between the platforms in front of trains, so I contacted various schools and organisations in the area. The Slade Youth Group took up my offer to come and talk to them about safety on the railway. “We’ll have a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by a buffet before we get down to the serious stuff with the youngsters taking part in a workshop on railway safety.” The launch of the youth group comes in the same week that a 13-year-old was severely burned while climbing on top of a train in a siding on Merseyside.

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