A GROUP helping steer mid Cheshire's young people away from crime and violence has been boosted by £11,000 in grant funding.

Queensberry Alternative Provision (AP), which last month ran a successful knife crime awareness event at Barons Quay, has been awarded £10,000 through the National Lottery's Big Lottery Fund and £1,000 through Cheshire Constabulary's Crimebeat charity.

The money will be used to support with the further development and delivery of Lostock-based Queensberry AP's new workshop, The Hook.

Available to secondary schools throughout Cheshire, The Hook is aimed at young people who, through their behaviours and choices, may be at risk of being involved in criminalised behaviour and exclusion from school.

The funds will also help expand work with young people who are already engaged with gangs, knife crime and other criminal activity.

Nic Martin of Queensberry AP said: "We developed The Hook to combat the growing risks of young people being exploited by criminal gangs, and with the support of the Big Lottery Fund and Crimebeat we will now be able to reach many more young people than originally planned. We can't thank them enough.

"Over the past few years we have witnessed first hand the devastating impact exploitation can have on young people and we felt that we had to do something to combat this very real problem.

"Early intervention is key, educating our young people before they make the wrong choice is so important and this is what we aim to do through The Hook."

The Hook is designed to use early intervention to encourage people to reflect on their choices and reduce risk-taking behaviour.

Queensberry AP's partnership with Her Majesty's Prison Service has been a key driver in the development of The Hook.

What began with a small number of prisoners providing community service has now developed into a working partnership which will see adult offenders playing an active part in the development and delivery of Queensberry AP projects.

Co-founder Paul Cooper said: "We are extremely proud of our relationship with the prison service which has seen serving offenders playing an important role in not only the development of the workshops but also in the delivery.

"One volunteer in particular works with us on a regular basis and his own life experience is something which has a huge impact on the groups we work with, it certainly gets young people thinking about the choices they are making and the potential consequences.

"The funding and support we have received is amazing and we hope many young people will benefit."

queensberryap.com