Friday 16th March 2012

A schoolboy from Shirebrook who launched a one-man mission to stop people poking fun at his home town has won £3,500 worth of grants to help him change their perceptions.



14 year old Daniel Warriner (above) successfully applied for the money as part of his campaign to help spread the word about the former mining town's attractions.

Daniel, who is a pupil at Shirebrook Academy, set up a community organisation called Get Shirebrook On the Map last year after becoming fed up at how people's perceptions continued to be shaped by the town's history and led them to describe it as a 'hellhole'.

Praising the area's beauty and the friendliness of its people, he set his sights on educating Shirebrook's residents and other people living elsewhere about the town's origins and attractions and putting together an online multi-media resource made up of photographs, film and first-person accounts showcasing what Shirebrook has to offer.

Funding for his project has come from Shirebrook Town Council and the National Lottery, with £2,500 coming from the O2 Think Big project, which supports young people who want to make a difference to their communities.

Next month Daniel and his classmate Joe McDonnell are due to attend a three-day workshop in Avon Tyrell, Hampshire, hosted by O2 in conjunction with UK Youth, during which they will learn about how to develop and publicise their idea.

Then, in May, Daniel, Joe and a group of fellow pupils will work with a professional film-making charity called First Light, which will help them to script, direct and edit Daniel's film.

After that, Daniel hopes to post it online to enable anybody who wants to know more about Shirebrook to find out for themselves - without having to listen to people who only want to drag the town down.

Daniel's quest began when he spotted an advert for the O2 Think Big campaign on social networking site Facebook. The campaign gives money to 13 to 25 year olds who want to start projects that make a difference in their communities.

Intrigued, he started to think about what he could do and very soon realised his motivation lay very close to home.

Daniel, a proud resident of Model Village, said: "I love Shirebrook. It's such a small community and when you walk round the streets, people stop to say hello to you and it's extremely friendly. We've got plenty of independently owned shops and nearby you can go for country walks and see lots of wildlife.

"We have all that, yet people from elsewhere say that Shirebrook's a hellhole and say they would hate to visit it, when they don't know what they're missing.

"Their attitudes date back to the days after the mine closed in 1993, when things really were bad. Plenty of good things have happened in Shirebrook since then, they just don't know about them.

"That's why, when I saw the advert, I decided I would do something about it to set them straight. Someone has to stand up for Shirebrook and I decided that it would be me."

Accompanying Daniel and Joe on their residential trip will be Natalie Mehrotra-Hughes, Shirebrook Academy's Head of ICT and Business Studies, who is mentoring Daniel and will oversee the filming process as part of the school's activities for ICT, Challenge and Enterprise Week.

She said: "We are all very impressed by what Daniel is looking to achieve. There can't be too many teenagers who would give up their time to help their community in this way and we are fully behind him.

"The residential course will help Daniel and Joe to apply more focus to the campaign and will give them the skills necessary to deliver it.

"Following that, they will be working with one of the best film-making companies in the business, which will work wonders with both their learning and their project."

Shirebrook, which is home to around 10,000 people, was first mentioned on record in the 12th Century, but was at the end of the 19th Century, when the local coal mine was opened, that it came into its own. For the next hundred years or so, its fortunes mirrored that of the mine and over the years it prospered, at one time boasting three railway stations.

Like hundreds of mining communities, its people suffered during the Miner's Strike of 1984 and, even though Shirebrook's pit set a record for coal production three years later, the colliery closed in 1993.

Mass unemployment followed, but it has since benefitted from new employment opportunities following inward investment. It is home to retail giants Sports Direct and planning permission has just been granted for a new Tesco superstore.

In 2009, a survey carried out by a group of local people in Shirebrook found that 42% of people felt the town was "an embarrassment and a disgrace" and that 28% were ashamed of living there.

3 years on, Daniel's efforts were praised by Shirebrook Town Council's Chairman, Councillor Steven Fritchley.

He said: "Good luck to Daniel. He has obviously got real determination and a spark within him in that has encouraged him to defend his town.

"He is setting an example to other youngsters and plenty of adults in Shirebrook and elsewhere who delight in talking the town down."

Other projects supported by the O2 Think Big campaign include initiatives to set up a community homework club, a social club for immigrant families and raise awareness of violent crime and homelessness.

Daniel said: "I'm looking forward to going on the course, it will be interesting to find out what other young people are doing and to learn the skills needed to take my project forward.

"These days, young people are not given a good reception by adults and when I started, at the back of my mind I was thinking that I wasn't going to be taken seriously.

"I was really pleased when people listened to me and I can't wait to do the film now. The final stage will be to put it online and all I need to know is that if a couple of people see it and decide to visit Shirebrook, then I know that I have made a difference."

To find out more about Daniel's campaign, visit www.getshirebrookonthemap.co.uk

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