Where Have All The Good Girls Gone?

20.1% of crime in England and Wales is committed by girls aged 10-17. That's 59,000 crimes during 2006-07.

An interesting set of figures, but as always there are lots of factors that the Youth Justice Board have to take into account when measuring these stats against the previous year/s.

The biggest question is, are girls becoming more violent? Or is crime just reported in such a way the girls are coming out worse off? Or have Child Protection Laws gone so AWOL that we (youth workers, PCSO's, teachers and the like) are no longer allowed to discipline without being arrested themselves? Has gender equality caused girls to think that being violent is an easy solution?

Are there also issues of mis-diagnosed ADD and ADHD? I strongly believe that we too quickly place a label on our children, and do not help the parents to cope.

Apparently the Youth Justice Board are on it, targeting 'high-risk girls'. But what about supporting single parents, or early intervention at school? I don't think that targeting is key, I think that we too often target individuals, when group and gang mentality is clearly a lot stronger in this country.

We also called 999 for no apparent reason, are scared of gangs of kids hanging out together, with no rational reason.

20.1% is too much... prevention programmes aren't reaching enough, but they are doing a brilliant job with those who they are reaching. There are lots of factors pertaining to the rise in crime in girls, but it is rising...

God Is With Us

You have looked deep
into my heart, LORD,
and you know all about me.
Psalm 139 v 1

After all is said an done, God knows me inside and out, He knows exactly how to comfort me, when to inspire me, when to push me to my limits. He knows me better than anyone else ever will.

It's not been a great week, news and events wise. I've attended the funeral of one of the men who used to come to church. Sadly it took six weeks for the funeral to happen because there were no next of kin and only one breavement officer in the L&D. Strikes me as a silly thing to do, everyone dies, quite a few of them in hospital. So why only one breavement officer?

Following some bad news on Tuesday night, my bible reading was about David being chosen because of how his heart looked, rather than his outward appearance. God's unknown way of bringing comfort to me. I am in awe of how he has helped me, each time I take stock of my life.


On Sunday we headed to the prayer room at Kestin House to be part of the ten days of prayer for Luton. Here's an arty picture to keep you intrigued about the prayer room!

God knows you, He knows your heart
God is here, his spirit is with you.

On the Move

What happens when 30 churches across Luton get together and have a passion to serve the people in the town centre?

What happens is over 2000 people are fed and happy. We hung out with the people who were drinking in the afternoon sun, and those who were heading off to watch Luton play the final home match of the season.

It was an enjoyable day. Picture is of one of the worship bands playing throughout the day.

I hope and pray that the atmosphere in Luton is changed, but it's a long process.

"When you let boys in your room" Part 2

A boy came back to sort out the single bed frame, so now at least my room is back in order and a bit tidy.

Now to sort out a bit of bedding for it...

"When you let boys in your room" Part 1

There's a lot to be said for boys, they are helpful, strong and will generally rise to a challenge.

So when Jude's parent's dropped off a double bed for me, we realised we'd need a few boys to help set it up at leaset.

Challenge set, and the result was this:


So I have two beds in my room, and I slept pretty well last night. That's one double bed and a single bed frame on it's end.

I'm waiting for part two, which needs an alan key and an electric drill, neither of which the house currently has.

Weekend away was good. Here is some of the countryside behind the house we were staying in.


I got to teach, hang out with friends and be part of my larger Luton family in a more concrete way. It was very enjoyable and the sun came out. It's amazing how the sun can recharge batteries. I sat in the sun all afternoon, didn't get burnt, but felt like I'd slept an entire day!

Wonderful people, wonderful surroundings and a competitive Vicar's quiz, which made for a great weekend!

Weekend Away

I'm about to go away for the weekend with St Mary's. Another family weekend and I'm very very excited about it. It's really lovely to be asked to go.

I'm leading the youthwork and getting to hang out with some good friends, what more could you want from a weekend away! The amazing thing is I'm all prepared and ready to go, I just have to go to School first.

This week has been an interesting one, quite busy. I went to Brownies for the first time ever on Wednesday - only to be asked if I had a husband (girls are so nosy!). Thursday night was chatting to some older girlies about boys. It's been a bit of a week for some home truths.

Hopefully there will be a new bed for me when I get back, but God only knows when I'll have the time to slightly rearrange my room so the bed fits.

I'll post pictures when I get back.

Trips and fixes

I was in Essex yesterday to celebrate Mum's birthday and to catch up with other family and a few friends. So we sang happy birthday, twice, and bowled until we hurt. My cousin showed himself up to be a bit of a star. I think there will be much more bowling now, at least as Dad and brothers try to beat the cousin!

While I was in Essex I put my car into the Honda garage, and it got fixed before lunch time! Did I use the replaced mirror on my way back? I think about once or twice, turns out you probably don't need that mirror unless you live in a town where there are lots of cyclists.

Recently St Hugh's has been taking its time with God and being family on a Sunday morning, something different happened today, the young people were the ones taking their time. We were sitting and chatting about God's faithfulness and had far too much to talk about it would seem. When we got back to church everybody had left apart from the parents of the young people!

God is with us, His faithfulness extends to a thousand generations. His love endures forever, my help comes from the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

I learnt a lot today about the small group of young people, and it confirms to me why Jesus had a smaller group around him. It's so much easier to manage and to hear what every one is saying. It was a bit intense, but we learnt.