News

The Youth Council will be taking part in a group litter pick next Friday (the 16th July). We will be picking up litter up around the skate park, and will be grateful for anyone at the skatepark to help out. We aim to be there from 4 till 5, and there are about 15 coming from the youth council. It would be great if anyone could join us in helping clean up our town :)

On saturday the 11th of september there\\\'s going to be a local festival at the Heathfield youth centre. There are outside stalls to suit all tastes. There is also going to be a three a side basketball tournament in the barn. There are going to be loads of intresting activites going on in and around the youth centre. To finish the festival there is going to be an evening of live music featuring local bands. More information to follow shortly.
For this event we are looking for new and upcoming local bands to perform a short set on the night. We also want basketball teams for the tournament which will have two age groups to even out the playing field.

Trousers have never been under more scrutiny. Well, possibly not your trousers — unless you happen to be wearing those baggy, saggy, backside-revealing ones, popular with teenagers and probably unpopular with belt retailers.

Blame Ellis Drummond, 18, from Rushden, Northamptonshire. On Wednesday, prosecutors abandoned an attempt to force him to pull up his trousers in public. Drummond, convicted of assault, was faced with an antisocial behaviour order that included a ban on “wearing trousers so low beneath the waistline that members of the public are able to see his underwear”. But it was withdrawn after complaints, supported by District Judge Nicholas Leigh-Smith. He told the court: “Some of the requirements stuck me as contrary to the Human Rights Act.”

When Drummond emerged from court, it was with his tracksuit bottoms slung low, halfway down his thighs, with most of his boxer shorts defiantly on display. He would find solidarity at the Harrow Club W10 — a charity working with young people from the estates around North Kensington in West London.

“There’s no reason why anyone should be able to say, ‘You can’t wear your trousers like that’,” Mikhel Williams, 18, said. “Unless you’re showing skin. That’s different. No flesh should be showing. Personally, I don’t like seeing old men with their buttons undone and their hairy chest showing. That’s worse than seeing someone’s boxers.”

Conrad Mitchell, 17, said: “Once, my nan tried to pull my trousers up in the middle of the street. If I’m in Shepherds Bush, all the guys in suits give me dirty looks if I’m stood next to them at the bus stop. It’s funny.”

The low-trouser look comes from the US, an apeing of prison trousers, which sag from being oversized and without belts. Hip-hop artists have helped to popularise the look since the early Nineties, but the American Establishment is unconvinced.

In 2007 the town of Delcambre, Louisiana, made wearing such revealing trousers illegal. President Obama has criticised the look, while a “Stop the Sag!” billboard campaign was launched in New York this year (“Raise your pants, raise your image!”). Schools in Europe have also legislated against the trend. At the Harrow Club, the boys agreed that the “low-rise” look was not for everyone. “On some people, it looks ridiculous,” said Williams. “If someone’s got a massive arse, for example.”

Is there an element of showing off expensive underwear? “Nah, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing underneath,” said Mitchell.

So it would not matter if my Y-fronts were showing? “Y-fronts?” said Mitchell. I explained that they were favoured by some older people. He laughed and said that he did not expect many teenagers wear those. Later, a group of teenagers explained that Primark boxer shorts were the popular “standard” but “Ralph” [Lauren] should be worn to look “swaggered up”.

There is no uniform style when it comes to low trousers. Different lengths have no hidden meanings. Williams — who has taken to wearing two pairs of tracksuit bottoms over his boxers, one lower than the other — claimed that he did not do it intentionally, but he “sometimes can’t be bothered to keep pulling them up”.

Robert Johnston, associate editor of GQ magazine, said that the trend was “almost a cliché now . . . way past its sell-by date, especially given the growing popularity of fitted, raw Japanese denim, which doesn’t lend itself to hanging around your arse.”

Lawei Baffour, 20, a musician, said that he ditched the look after “speaking to people who had been through the HMP [jail] system. Obviously, you get inmates in prison who are homosexual, and having your trousers down flaunts or implies you’re willing to partake in that kind of activity. My mum told me that’s why I shouldn’t be doing it.”

Which maybe offers a way of combating the trend. “If you want to get a teenage boy to stop wearing something,” said Johnston, “nothing’s more effective than saying it looks sort of gay.”

Above the waist: Do this, and you asked: A) Are you for real? B) Are you trying to strangle your self? C) Are you Simon Cowell?

On the Hips: Perhaps you lack the swagger to pull off the low- slung look. Perhaps you're not a teenager or perhaps you like to go commando. However yo ulook at it you will remain an urban style civilian.

Low Slung, Boxers peeking out: The classic: It's gravity and decency ocked in an endless struggle. Equally chic in a US prison or simply loitering by a bus stop.

Really Low, Underwear almost totally revealed: Impressive, but dangerous. the slightest flash of bum crack and your street cred will vanish.

Article from www.timesonline.co.uk

Glitzy Girls
By Leyla Owen
Glitzy girls are a gathering of young girls who spend 2 hours after school to get to know each other and socialize with the community. At the club you pay a contribution of £1. That may seem a large amount but it’s extremely under priced, for this you can get to do cooking, play on the wii, computer room, arts and crafts, there is a pool table, music booth …ect. The year gap is between 11-13 year olds. But when you reach 14 you can become a volunteer and become part of the group once more.
We all get into the spirit by trying to raise money to buy things like jumper’s which promote our club. We also apply for funding to have days out, for instance we recently got a sum of money which 2 members competed for. We have planned to spend the money on more art equipment for the club. We have planned to interact with other groups like us across the area.

If you have any time to kill in the weekends or this bank holiday pop down to your local cinema and we recommend you see the oscar winning Blind side.At the beginning of The Blind Side, Oher (Quinton Aaron) is struggling to adapt to life at a new, private Christian school where he has been accepted for his sporting potential rather than any academic achievement. He has no family to speak of and spends his nights sleeping in the school gym after visiting the local launderette to wash one of his two sets of clothes, slipping his things in with someone else's when nobody's looking.

Spotted by Tuohy walking in the pouring rain in nothing but a T-shirt and shorts, Oher is invited to spend the night on the family's couch, then asked to stay for Thanksgiving, and before he knows it, has his own room and bed (his very first). Aside from a car accident in which he prangs the new Hummer he's been given for passing his driving test, matters run very smoothly indeed, with Oher soon excelling at American football and doing well enough in his classes to suggest he may have a chance of earning an education. The only real conflict in the film comes towards the end, when an official for the National Collegiate Athletic Association suggests to Oher that the Tuohys may have adopted him in order to channel his sporting talent towards their favourite university side.

See this film in any cinema showing frequently, enjoy.

Following the taster session on the 16th of April there will be a football club running from the 23.04.10 until 25.06.10 every friday night. Come along and have fun with your friends!

Following the taster session on the 16th of April there will be a football club running from the 23.04.10 until 25.06.10 every friday night. Come along and have fun with your friends!

Get involved on April 16th, come along see how much fun you could have, and if you like it you can turn up Friday night from the 23rd of April till the 5th of June!

This sunday 14th March, Heathfield u15's beat Crowborough's u15's 29-10 with brilliant tries from George Bending and Gareth Lloyd putting Heathfield in the "A" league final.
Next Sunday 21st March Heathfield play Haywards Heath in Hove in what will prove to be a grueling game for both sides. To win this game will make Heathfield East Sussex champions and be a great achievment for Heathfield.
So get down to Hove rugby club for 11:30 and witness history in the making, your support will be greatly appreciated.
Wish our team luck and fingers crossed for the win!

We in the youth council recognise the devastating effects of the earthquake that happened in Haiti. And we feel it is our responsibility to help as much as we can. Therefore we are going to do a sponsored 12 mile run/walk on the Cuckoo Trail on Sunday 7th of March to raise as much money as possible for Haiti. There are about ten of us doing the run/walk with Joe Benians on a unicycle and Adam Davies carrying some snacks and water for us on his tricycle. We leave Heathfield at 11 o'clock, run to Hellingly and have a break there for lunch then finally run back hoping to return before 4 o'clock. Any donations are well received, if you would like to sponsor by cheque, please make cheques payable to DEC HAITI EARTHQUAKE, or if you would like to sponsor by cash just drop it off at the youth centre and we will send the funds to the DEC Haiti Earthquake appeal.
Thank you and your support would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you