Over a hundred 11 to 14-year-olds enjoyed an evening of music and dance acts as well as anti-knife crime messages with the return of the Snapdance event to Bedford.
Local children in school years seven, eight and nine were treated to performances by Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists KNE, singer Kimo as well as DanceVybz Street Dance School.
At the event were police cadets, staff from youth crime projects Fearless, Dynamic Decisions and Inspiring Voices, the Bedford Borough Youth Cabinet, police officers and staff from the Bedford Community Safety Partnership.
Music on the night came courtesy of DJs at In2Beats FM, who also helped organise and promote Snapdance, while the Tesco store in Cardington Road, Bedford provided all the soft drinks for free.
Raffle prizes including an Amazon Fire tablet, cinema tickets and vouchers were up for grabs and the youngsters also had the chance to leave their feedback on projects they would like to see to improve services for young people in the town.
Bedfordshire Police T/Chief Inspector Rachael Glendenning, who organised Thursday’s event, said, “The whole night was brilliant from start to finish and gave the children the chance to have fun, as well as learning about important anti-knife crime messages.
“A key part of our strategy to prevent serious youth violence involves engaging with young people, offering them different activities and helping them make positive choices.
“All the feedback we have had so far has been extremely positive and we really hope that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves.”
