Naughty Boys Club

It was obvious that my fare that I had picked up nice and early on this cold and dismal Sunday morning wasn’t that keen on having to venture out. He looked like he had been on the ale the previous night, and was suffering from a huge hangover. When I asked him where he was going he was definitely a bit shady about telling me. “Err in town somewhere by Cornwallis St and Hindpool Rd” he muttered. “You mean the naughty boys club then” I replied. Taken aback at being rumbled he looked at me in confusion, after a minute of thought he relaxed, nodded and smiled. The “naughty boys club” for those of you that don’t know is what the nickname is for the unpaid work or community service which offenders agree to do as part of their probation. This can consist of cleaning off graffiti, painting, gardening or environmental projects. None of these people are big time career criminals, it’s mainly drink related assaults and relatively minor offences. Naughty boys who work during the week have to fit the unpaid work in during their weekends. We get lots of naughty boys and even some naughty girls getting a taxi to the club, who ask to be dropped round the corner from the probation office, but since it’s the only place open round there on a Sunday morning we all know where they are going. Most folk won’t know it but the National Probation Service is interested in hearing from you with suggestions of what they could be doing to clean up your area. Sounds good to me, clean up your area and keep the naughty boys and girls nice and busy.