Pride of the Black Country: The award-winning teens of Grace Mary to Lion Farm

When you picture volunteers, you might imagine someone retired: a parent or grandparent with the wisdom, experience and time to dedicate to helping their local area. But on a high hill in the Black Country, about halfway between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, an award-winning group of young people are challenging that stereotype.  

The group, funded by the Big Local programme, is made up of kids aged 8-16 who describe themselves as “young leaders who want to have their voices heard and influence change, to break down barriers between neighbourhoods…the next generation to build a lasting legacy for our area”. The programme also gives young people in the community a say in how Big Local funding is spent. Aptly, they are known as Big Local Little Voices (BLLV).  

The bonds forged by the group, whose families and friends have also got to know each other, have begun to bridge the neighbourhood divide. 

The Big Local area, known as Grace Mary to Lion Farm (GM2LF), is actually four separate neighbourhoods – Grace Mary, Lion Farm, Tividale and Wallace – in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands. Historic distrust and division between the estates made tackling issues like crime, drug abuse, antisocial behaviour and isolation more difficult. The community also has a larger than average youth population, and nearly 40 per cent of children are from low-income families compared with 26 per cent in the North East. Each area had its own youth activities, but there was no coordination.  

So, in October 2018, Big Local board members went round each neighbourhood and invited kids from all the estates to join a new youth project. Now, although the board facilitates the programme, the youths run the weekly meetings and activities independently. And the bonds forged by the group, whose families and friends have also got to know each other, have begun to bridge the neighbourhood divide.  

Lewis Jones, the chair, is just 15. He’s from the bottom of the estate, and Chloe Adamms, his 18-year-old deputy, is from the top. They could be brother and sister, with matching dark brown hair, creamy-pale complexions and wide open smiles. But the pair only met through the programme.  

Lewis tells me: “Just up the road we have a big field, and there used to be loads of young children there playing until 9pm, and now you’ll be lucky to see one because there’s all this threat from knife crime and drugs around there. It’s made the area a lot scarier and more dangerous.” 

Chloe has a similar story. “Just before I joined BLLV, there were about 10 or 20 police cars on the road behind mine, because there was a machete threat and someone almost got stabbed. I didn’t want to be in that type of environment, and I didn’t want my brothers to grow up being scared of what could happen, so I wanted to join this to change the environment for the younger generation.” 

Tracy Lowe, the Big Local area chair and long-time youth worker, said: “They are young leaders looking to make change to the lives of their peers, and to break up youth involvement in crime, drugs and alcohol abuse, by helping their peers to fit in and not feel like they have peer pressure to do wrong.” 

We need voices from the young people, and we’re preparing them to move into our feet so that as we move on they’ll take our place.

By the end of their first year, they group had also set up a youth enterprise not-for-profit business, Big Local Little Voices Printing & Merchandise, selling personalised items on their Facebook page to raise money and reinvest it back into the community. The whole BLLV operation is slick and professional, with coordinated social media accounts and consistent branding. The group even made a YouTube video, narrated with a spoken-word poem outlining their concerns. “The drugs on our streets are getting bigger than the sun, alleyways and gullies help the dealers sneak and run. We need the routes closed off so there is nowhere to hide, so they’re out in the open – let’s get these dealers fried.” 

The video shows them going around the neighbourhood with their mascot, a lion named Gracie, tackling various issues. “Where are our parks and open play, all these facilities are being taken away. We need these places back to tackle our mental health, to mix and make friends and prevent us being by ourselves.” 

In 2020, the group was nominated for an award by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner for an ‘outstanding young people’s project’, for breaking down isolation and improving relations between the estates. They were invited to a ceremony at Birmingham City Football Club – but of course, the event was cancelled by the pandemic.  

Like everyone, the group struggled with morale and motivation during the long lockdown, and Lewis himself also had to contend with GCSE revision. But at the rescheduled awards ceremony in April, the group’s efforts were rewarded – they had won. 

I’ve made new friends and I’m not as anxious around people anymore.

Tracy, who has been a youth worker for 27 years, said that the partnership tends to be made up of the older generation, “but we need voices from the young people, and we’re preparing them to move into our feet so that as we move on they’ll take our place – so that Big Local’s got a legacy.” 

When she first joined, Chloe says, she “barely spoke to anyone”. “I thought it would be good to get involved and try and make new friends, because I suffered really badly with social anxiety.” Now, Chloe has finished an apprenticeship in teaching and childcare and is returning to college for further qualifications. She even attended a conference in Nottingham with the group, where they put on a workshop for a largely adult audience. “I’ve made new friends and I’m not as anxious around people anymore.” 

Lewis’s mum, Vicky, tells me that he was always confident, but that chairing the group has brought out his confidence more and given him a voice to say how he feels. “Having a little sister at home who struggles, knowing he wants to make a difference for her and other children is a big thing.” 

I tell Chloe and Lewis that they’re the kind of voices the government should hear from. Chloe replies that if she met Boris Johnson, she’d tell him how much BLLV has helped them – how much it’s brought the community together. But, she says, the growing threat of knife and gun crime cannot be ignored. “Round here it can be dangerous, and it shouldn’t be like that for the younger generation. I would ask him to do something that could make children safe again.”