World at the feet of anti-bully girls

18 July 2007

Four schoolgirls who dreamed up an anti-bullying campaign which has been rolled out countywide have the world at their feet.

For their project came top in the Wham contest, co-ordinated by Norfolk Partners Against Crime Taskforce (Pact) - and their prize is the holiday of a lifetime.

Sixteen-year-old twins Ellice and Ria Bush, younger sister Neola, 13, who all live in Shipdham and attend Dereham Neatherd High School, and their friend Harriet Gilford, 14, from Old Buckenham High School, will be cramming sunglasses and suncream into suitcases - once they have decided where in the world they want to go.

The teenage members of Watton Air Cadets created anti-bullying initiative Just Smile! after experiencing bullying themselves.

The quartet set up a website www.justsmile.org.uk and have written leaflets in English and Portuguese.

The website is aimed at letting others who have been bullied know there is help out there and point them in the right direction as well as giving them advice and support on how to deal with the situation. It also addresses bullies themselves giving them an idea of how their actions can harm people.

Their prize for winning the contest, which attracted 58 entries, was sponsored by insurance company Marsh.

It was the ninth annual competition that invites youngsters across the county to make a difference in the area they live or go to school. They beat four other finalists in Tuesday night's final, hosted by TV presenter Jake Humphrey.

Speaking on Wednesday, Neola Bush said: “Winning was amazing. There was such a high level of competition there we honestly didn't think we stood a chance.

“Because we've experienced bullying first hand we know the devastating effects it can have. It was a very personal project to us.

“We were focussing on helping other people the holiday was the last thing on our minds.

“We've had a lot of great feedback with people saying it's made a difference and how impressed they are, that's a great feeling.

“I can't believe we get to go anywhere we want. There have been a few options bandied about but we need to all sit down and sort it out.

“The ultimate factor is it must be hot and near a beach. We want to get away from this weather.

“It'll be a great thing to look forward to after all the exams, planning our holiday.”

The girls have spent the last six months on the initiative and dedicated every Wednesday evening and weekend poring over ideas to reach out to victims while stamping bullying out.

In total they spent more than 700 hours spreading their message, working with Kidscape, Connexions and Victim Support amongst others.

As well as multi-lingual leaflets the cadets produced their own anti-bullying game and DVD and still found the time to give numerous media interviews.

This week, another one of their initiatives was completed when the winners of their county wide anti-bullying poetry competition were announced.

Cpl Ria Bush said “The poetry competition presentation went really well and it was nice to see so many winners attend. However, without the Dereham Round Table, we could never have achieved this and they have been an amazing help to the project.”

Schools across Norfolk entered the competition with 60 poems across the three age groups selected for final judging.

“The support of the Dereham Round Table made this possible, and the final winners were selected by the Honorary President Mr David Hill” added Just Smile team member Sgt Ellice Bush.

In a ceremony held at Watton Squadron HQ, the presentation to the winners were made by Mr David Hill, president, Dereham Round Table, and he said “There can be no doubt that excellent work that has been undertaken in relation to the anti-bullying campaign has done much for the benefit of the community. It has highlighted the distress, discomfort and unnecessary suffering that victims suffer and endure.

“Until this campaign much of that had been in silence/private but now with the 'Yellow Boxes' in schools and other initiatives this will hopefully see a decline in this most unpleasant of situations as the stigma is reduced and the sly offensive behaviour of the bullies is tackled.”