On a Quest to bring end to gang rivalries

Published on Friday 23 July 2010 12:10

A COMMUNITY event which aims to bring teenagers together in a bid to stamp out gang culture has been resurrected in north Edinburgh.

Nearly a decade ago, The Quest - a community treasure hunt for 12 to 20-year-olds - was popular among teenagers in Muirhouse, Granton and Pilton, and helped to build bridges between teenagers who may be more inclined to treat neighbouring communities with hostility.

However, The Quest was cancelled when its original organiser Peter Airlie, 47, of Muirhouse Millennium Centre, hit funding difficulties.

Mr Airlie's children Sarah, 23, of the Muirhouse Development Group, and Peter Jr, 20, of Pilton Youth Centre, were regulars of the original events and yesterday successfully resurrected it for around 75 teenagers.

The next generation of The Quest was made possible thanks to the help of Catherine McWilliams, 25, of Granton Youth Centre, and donations from the local Youth Action Team, Lothian Buses, Scottish Gas, supermarkets and both of the Capital's football teams.

Miss Airlie said: "The reason we decided to resurrect it is we wanted to celebrate North Edinburgh and bring back a fantastic event from the past.

"It used to be a massive thing in the area and it was great, because teenagers from Pilton would never mix with people from Muirhouse or Granton without something to bring them together.

"I remember when I was young and everyone arrived in the same place every one had their backs up when they saw people from different areas.

"It was just the natural reaction as it was what we had grown up with, but by the end of it everyone were friends.

"Since The Quest ended we've started to notice these divisions becoming more prevalent again so we decided to do something about it."

Yesterday, teenagers set off from Scottish Gas HQ in Granton on a treasure hunt around the city, with each clue revealing a new destination, and ended up at a secret location outside the city.

Miss Airlie added: "It wouldn't have been possible without the help of the local community. We got 1800 from the local Youth Action Team, around 400 worth of day tickets for the kids from Lothian Buses, Scottish Gas put up all the stages and provided the PA and gave us 400 for T-shirts for the kids.

"All of the rolls for the end-of-day barbecue were donated by Tesco and we got hundreds of sausages, burgers and chicken wings from Iceland and the local McDonalds did us a really good deal as well."

The event was praised by Lothian and Borders Police for attempting to bring the community together.

A police spokesman said: "We will continue to work closely with partner agencies and support any diversionary activities to engage with youths for the purpose of crime detection and prevention."