Welcome to the Advent Calendar, day 14. On a sunny day in March, a large group gathered to help clean up Harehills Cemetery and learn a little about the history there.
I first became aware of Breaking Down Barriers last year when they showed up on social media doing a litter pick in the Strathmores and Bellbrooks. Adam Aslam reached out to explain what Breaking Down Barriers was and the exciting things they had coming up.
They’ve featured a lot in this year’s advent calendar because I am genuinely inspired and delighted by the Young People there, and they’ve allowed me to be there and take part in events and just their weekly meetups. That’s my bias and my privilege.
In March, a gathering was arranged before their regular weekly session, at the time at St Cyprian’s, to do a litter pick in Harehills Cemetery alongside Junior Sports Hub. Around 20 young people came along and armed with high-vis jackets, litter pickers and purple bags set about in small groups sweeping through the cemetery.
These are young people that genuinely care for their community and are respectful of the location they are in. Time was taken to read some of the graves we were clearing, with young people trying to find the oldest graves, and later Adam took the young people through the history of the cemetery. From Helena Payne, a Russian Princess interred there, the first Muslim graves in the city, all bits of history I never knew, I was as educated as the young people were.
It was a tremendous and successful effort to clean up the cemetery and see a bit of Leeds, which many people don’t see. The views were amazing from the graveyard on the hill, the history around poignant, and the young people from Breaking Down Barriers and Junior Sports Hub showed how respectful and fantastic the young people of Harehills can be.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youthengagementproject/permalink/691911291848124/
There are a lot more litter picks than this one. Junior Sports Hub were back again a month later:
And our young people have been going all…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youthengagementproject/permalink/771128560593063/
Year…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youthengagementproject/permalink/777713926601193/
Long!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/youthengagementproject/permalink/785384492500803/
And all this is just one aspect. They’ve been up to a myriad of other things, from what we’ve covered in the calendar, such as the community garden transformation, the photography project, to acts of kindness, to their involvement with the Winter Welcome. Still, I’ve not covered the writing workshops, the confidence sessions, the survival course, the cooking course, and so much more. So, if you’ve young ones or just want to see how wonderful engaged young people are, check out the Breaking Down Barriers Facebook group and the Junior Sports Hub Twitter and Facebook page.
So yes, I’m biased – but these young people are my heroes! Thank you to them and to Adam and everyone else supporting the group.
Harehills ❤️ Love 
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