Nacro annual review

one kid who’d been convicted for robbery whetherhe would keep doing the same thing. He said, “Yeah,because it’s easy.” There was no reasoning with him;he saw himself as a hustler. But others realise thatthey are in danger of ruining their lives. There wasone kid who was notorious; there had been a highprofilecase, and he had a lot to live up to. When hefirst joined the programme, we’d take him on grouptrips and he’d sit on the back seat of the bus like itwas a throne, while the others all sat around him.You could see people holding their bags closer as hewalked by. He didn’t change overnight, but at somepoint in the programme he realised he couldn’t carryon being what he was. He started working reallyhard and did pretty well. Ultimately, it’s up to theperson what they make of it.’It’s not difficult to spot the signs that someone hasdecided to make a fresh start, says Ihona Hirving. Itstarts with simple things like being on time for asession, and continues when they make seriousdecisions about the course of their lives. ‘They stopsaying “I want to be a professional footballer” or “Iwant to be a racing driver” and start thinking morerealistically about what they can achieve.’ What ratesas a success? ‘We’re always very pleased when ayoung person decides to go back to school.’The project also encourages young people to acquireskills that will stand them in good stead in thefuture. Mechanics is always a popular course.‘Instead of nicking cars, they are taught how to fixthem,’ says Ihona. ‘Most of them are very keen on itbecause they can see how their applied knowledgehas an end result. When they take a broken engineand get it working again, they think, “Wow! I didthat.” It does wonders for their self-esteem.’Down at Southmere Lake, the three lads emergefrom the boats, their clothing soaked. They drytheir shirts and trainers in the sun, but the hatsremain glued to their heads. There’s a debate aboutwho won the kayak race around the yellow flag (‘Iwon that time, innit,’ ‘No, I beat you, man…’). Frankadmits that there are some outings that haven’tworked out, but many do. His favourite was a tripto the Cabinet War Rooms earlier this year. ‘Eventhough I thought some of them might cause trouble,it went smoothly. The educational exercises thathad been worked out for them were reallyinteresting and they took to the subject. It was aperfect day. No one would have thought they wereon sentences for robbery or burglary. They’re notbad, but at a certain time, they committed a crime.Our job is to address that.’ 17