CHANCE OF A LIFETIME
For kids
By Sally Cassidy
Time to live the life – again! Last year Crimestoppers Scotland turned the spotlight on over 46,000 youngsters during the fabulous Choices for Life tour by offering them the chance to win a ‘dream day’ for themselves and three pals.
Primary 7 boys and girls were asked to complete a postcard entry to a competition entitled: Live the Life and had to answer two questions. Parliament Minister Margaret Curran MSP pulled the winning entries from the hat.
Last year’s winners were ‘bowled over’ by the whole fantastic experience and wouldn’t have missed it for the World, according to their parents.
So the competition is being staged again by public demand and already the entries are already rolling in.
Our 2006 event has been exploding onto stages all around Scotland, with excitement levels raising the roof of every venue. Edinburgh, Aviemore, Glasgow, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Aberdeen and Lewis; from the 24th of May to the 6th of June, Primary 7 kids across Scotland have been celebrating their right to make ‘Choices for Life’. Nairn Academy had the honour of recording the theme song ‘Choices’ this year; the song was only one element in a musical and dramatic extravaganza which leaves pupils humming songs and declaring they had ‘learnt a lot Miss’.
Education Officer David Mackie, who was involved in the planning of this year’s event, said: “Messages about drugs and substances need to be presented in a way which our young people can relate to and Choices for Life does that very effectively”. There can be no doubt that this vast event is a stunning success story and a credit to the SDEA.
It’s an initiative which was started by the Strathclyde Police and the SDEA (Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency) and Choices for Life has grown to become an annual event. The anti drug message is very strong with drama and quiz elements alternating with performances by popular bands, and film clips with statements by well known Scots.
The bumper prize for the Live the Life competition was to be a Dream Day and Crimestoppers Scotland delivered just that. They were chauffeur-driven in a limo, treated like celebrities and loved every minute.
Check out their schedules below.
Amy’s Dream Day,
Tuesday 16TH August 2005
8.00am Limo by S-Class Limos
9.00am Mary Reid Salon Edinburgh; Nails – file and polish.
10.00am Radio Forth visit.
10.50am John Lewis; fashion advice/choose clothes.
12.00pm John Lewis; Lunch - The Partners Dining Room; guest Minister Margaret Curran.
13.00pm John Lewis; Make-up lesson – Clinique.
14.15pm Doodles Ceramic Workshop; paint an item of china.
15.30pm Charlie Miller, Stafford Street Salon; Hair trim/blow dry.
19.00pm Party for 100 guests!
• Venue; courtesy of Dunfermline Athletic Football Club.
• Disco by Apollo.
• Pizza, courtesy Pizza Hut.
• Refreshments by Tesco.
• Chocolate Monday (thanks to the girls and their manager Iain McDonald).
• Organisational help; Dunfermline Police/Community workers.
• Transport by Stagecoach in Fife using the Stagecoach/Crimestoppers bus.
Daniel’s Dream Day,
Friday 19th August 2005
10.00am Limo by Chauffeured Limos.
10.30am Radio Forth visit.
11.30am Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade museum.
1.00pm Lunch; Zizi, Ocean Terminal.
15.00pm Alien Rock, rock climbing.
18.00pm Dinner; Frankenstein’s.
20.00pm Mercat tours; Ghosts and Ghouls Edinburgh walk.
+Saturday 20th August
8.30am Discovery by Rossleigh Landrovers.
10.00am Quad biking, Fyfeoffroad, Fife.
1.00pm Hearts Football Club; meet the team – watch the match.
Daniel and his three friends and Amy with her three cousins had something else in common; they all adored their limos. Flavoured water and lemonade, sipped from champagne glasses was heady stuff taken from the long, sinuously curving bar. With pop music playing and twinkling lights in the ceiling the kids waved to their fans out of the limo window. Yes, their public didn’t know who they were but they were clearly celebrities.
With so much support from so many organizations and individuals the two groups of lucky eleven year olds had as much pampering and action as they could handle. For the girls the highlights were shopping, with the help of a personal shopper and an exclusive changing room, and performing with Chocolate Monday. Their only regret was that they couldn’t keep the limo. The boys enjoyed the quad biking, which was a new experience, but rock climbing topped it. And when they met the Hearts team they thought they were in Heaven! ‘Were you a Hearts fan when you were younger?’ Daniel asked Captain Steven Pressley. ‘Yes’, he replied, ‘my whole family were. I can’t believe I’m living the dream.’
‘Living the dream,’ that sums it up: Two Dream Days, two happy kids and a pile of memories – a once in a lifetime experience! They certainly Lived the Life!
‘It’s something that happens once in a lifetime,’ Amy and Daniel both said. And they’re right; get your entry in – now.
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