Top Sport Stars Come Together To Help Beatbullying
UK’s leading bullying prevention charity opens its doors in Wales
October 14, 2009 – Beatbullying, the UK’s leading bullying prevention charity, officially launches its Welsh
operation today at a star-studded event in Cardiff.
Top names from Welsh sport, media and politics will gather at Cathays High School, Gabalfa, to mark the first of many Beatbullying – or curobwlio - workshops to be held in Wales.
Beatbullying Wales (beatbullying.org/wales) will focus on peer-to-peer education, using anti-bullying strategies devised for young people by young people with workshops focusing on sport (BBSports), music (BBTunes) and digital media (CyberMentors) empowering young people to lead their own campaigns.
Cardiff Council’s Cardiff Against Bullying is funding the innovative BBSports workshop which connects with hard-to-reach young people through physical activity and team games.
HSBC has kindly donated funds to enable the first ever CyberMentors training session in Wales.
CyberMentors (cybermentors.org.uk) is the first online peer mentoring social networking site run by young people for young people. Over 160,000 children and teenagers have already visited the site for support and advice since its launch in March.
Beatbullying Wales launches in the run up to the annual Anti-Bullying Week (16 – 21 November) so in preparation, and to help raise money, Spar stores across South Wales will be selling the charity’s iconic blue wristbands to children and schools. Each band costs £1 with all proceeds going to Beatbullying Wales.
Thanks to support from teachers and pupils across Wales, Beatbullying is opening its second UK office on Cathedral Road in Cardiff enabling young people in the country to benefit from the charity’s proven work in schools which have implemented Beatbullying programmes: incidents of bullying in the best cases have been reduced by up to 80%.
Beatbullying patron, bullying victim and former world boxing champion Joe Calzaghe, has been central to the opening, along with a committed and generous group of Welsh supporters and business people.
On 14 October, sports stars Jamie Baulch and Craig Quinnell will be on hand to support the charity’s launch and encourage individuals, communities and companies to donate funds which will help Beatbullying work with 50 Welsh schools in its first year. Calzaghe and Olympic athlete Jamie Baulch will both host fundraising events in the coming months.
Founded in 1999, Beatbullying has worked with over 1.5m young people in England, assisting and supporting those who are being bullied and re-educating students about acceptable behaviour towards their peers.
Joe Calzaghe says: "I’m delighted to be involved in the launch of Beatbullying Wales. Having been through bullying myself I know just how devastating an affect it can have on any child or teenager. It’s that personal experience which makes me truly passionate about the work Beatbullying does in schools and communities. The sooner peer-mentoring programmes, such as CyberMentors, can start educating kids in Wales, the better. I will recommend everyone shows their support by buying a Beatbullying wristband, because together we can beat the bullies. "
Emma Jane Cross, Chief Executive, Beatbullying, says: "Since Beatbullying launched in 1999, we’ve helped improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. Ten years on and we still believe that young people have the power to shape the society we live in. Beatbullying’s role is to guide them in this process in order to foster communities based on respect, not fear, where bullying is entirely unacceptable. To finally be bringing this to Wales is a real honour and one I hope will change the face of education in the country."
About Beatbullying & CyberMentors.org.uk
Beatbullying is the UK’s leading bullying prevention charity. Founded in 1999, Beatbullying empowers young people to lead anti-bullying campaigns in their schools and local communities, and builds the capacity of local communities to sustain the work. Beatbullying has directly and indirectly worked with 1.5m+ young people over the last seven years, assisting and supporting young people that are being bullied, re-educating and changing the behaviour of young people that bully and preventing bullying in schools and communities across the UK. CyberMentors.org.uk is a safe, social networking site providing information and support for young people being bullied or cyber bullied. Young people, aged 11-25, are trained as CyberMentors, in schools and online, so that they can offer support to their peers. Encapsulated by cutting-edge technology, it is a safe website where young people can turn to other young people for help and advice. CyberMentors are also supported by trained counsellors, available online if needed. CyberMentors is a Beatbullying project.
For more information, visit www.cybermentors.org.uk
or www.beatbullying.org
