Miss Unique girls full of confidence

This group of teenage girls from Mexborough took part in a "Miss Unique"  initiative aimed at helping young women to build their confidence and stay safe.

The nine, aged between 13 and 19, were selected to take part in the police-funded project after being put forward by Dearne links4youth, a volunteer group that supports young people.

The project aims to build self-esteem and teach girls how to be a responsible member of their community.

It has already been run successfully across South Yorkshire but this is the first time it has been done in Mexborough.

John Barker Police community support supervisor said: “This was a worthwhile project that has given the girls an opportunity to explore different avenues of their life to help them make the right decisions in the future.

“We hope to be able to run this project again with more young women.”

For the last ten weeks, the girls have taken part in weekly sessions supported by officers from the Mexborough Safer Neighbourhood Team. They have learned about the dangers of drinking too much alcohol and taking drugs, self-esteem as well as friendships and issues around bullying. 

At the end of the project, a presentation evening was held to celebrate the girls’ achievements and during the evening they each made a speech about how they had benefited from the project.

They all received a certificate from Cllr Andrea Milner, Cabinet member for Doncaster’s Children and Young People’s Service.

She said: “Miss Unique is a fantastic project that has really helped young women and given them a strong platform to build their future careers and lives upon.

“I hope to see the scheme again in Doncaster and would encourage young women across the borough to get involved.”

Dog sniffs out illegal immigrants.