October 2006

A CRACKDOWN on selling eggs to under 16s was rolled out across the city in October after neighbourhood police officers received a flood of complaints about homes, cars and individuals being targeted by teenage thugs. Officers condemned the teen terrors who used eggs as missiles to damage paintwork on motor vehicles, windows and doors of houses and businesses, as well as targeting people, and said they aimed to catch those responsible. They also warned that the teenage pranksters could end up with egg on their faces and end up arrested, as attacks on cars and homes were regarded as criminal damage. Supermarkets throughout Wakefield joined the fight, with Morrisons classing eggs as dangerous as cigarettes and alcohol.

The Express launched the Read on Wakefield campaign to promote and encourage reading across the city and address the issue of poor literacy levels. With a huge-scale public event planned for next spring, a published anthology of short stories written for, and by, the young people of the city, and a fundraiser aimed at providing workbooks for children, its aims were to resurrect and embrace the love of reading. The paper felt it was heartbreaking to contemplate that this simple pleasure is being denied from some people whether it be due to economic or social circumstances through to simple disinterest. These are the reasons that have inspired the campaign. If all we do is try and recall a forgotten pleasure in a world that has been engulfed in multi-media, and encourage people just to read in any shape or form, then we will have been successful. The Rt Rev Stephen Platten, Bishop of Wakefield, said: “People often say education is the gateway to opportunity. If that is true then reading is the key that unlocks that gate.” Wakefield MP Mary Creagh also backed the campaign, saying: “It is absolutely brilliant that the Express is pushing books in this way. These days children have a lot of choice with computer games and television, but there can be so much simple pleasure to be gained from reading a book. “It can be an escape, provide comfort, or great enjoyment.”