Last updated 23:14, Sunday, 23 November 2008

Antony Hext reaches down to his friend Nathan Thomlinson’s left leg and stares at his sock. “Have you got your machete?” he asks. “Is it in there?”

Nathan Thomlinson, 13, left and Antony Hext, 14, who attend Petteril Bank Youth Project in Carlisle

Nathan’s sock is a little small to conceal such a weapon, if there was any doubt that Antony is joking.

But there’s a serious side to the 14-year-old’s quip as he mocks the grim perception which millions of adults have of the younger generation.

A new survey commissioned by children’s charity Barnardo’s suggests an increasing intolerance of young people. More than half of the adults questioned think that British children are “beginning to behave like animals”.

More than a third agreed that “it feels like the streets are infested with children”. Forty-three per cent say “something has to be done” to protect society from children and young people.

The fear, justified or not, is real enough. A group of friends on the street is labelled a gang. No respect for anyone. No fear of authority. They’re untouchable and they know it. These animals roam in packs. These animals are dangerous.

At Petteril Bank Youth Project on Carlisle’s Harraby estate Antony and Nathan are content to play with stereotypes rather than knives or guns.

“I go out with my homies, some people get stabbed,” says Antony. Still joking.

While adults’ feelings are frequently heard, what do the young recipients of their fear and loathing think about being public enemy number one?

Antony and 13-year-old Nathan say they sense little hostility from adults, except the police. “They always come after us. They think we’re always doing stuff and we’re not.”

Antony isn’t keen on the area. “There’s nothing to do. I used to live in Morton. It was good there.”

When they’re not at the youth project what do they do? “Chill, in the house or out and about. Get chessed.”

If they get into trouble, who are they worried about having to face? “No one,” says Antony.

“I don’t get into trouble,” says Nathan.

Jamie Ellis, 14 and Chris Heggie, 13, are more aware of a negative reaction from adults. Jamie says: “When you go to shops everyone watches you. They just think you’re gonna steal. I just want to leave. They do your head in.”

Twelve-year-olds Andrew Paton and Jamie Thompson also feel unwelcome in shops. “Some of them only let two children in at once,” says Andrew. “They don’t have that for adults.

“You play football with your friends and people come out and start shouting at you to get off their front. Once we were being a bit noisy and this woman came out and started shouting saying she was trying to get to sleep.”

Andrew concedes that some older people are “all right” but he’s not happy about one of his teachers. “I get called Ginger at school by the teacher cos he doesn’t know my name.”

What does he want to do when he’s older? “I want to work at Burger King. My dad’s friend works there and if there’s any burgers left he gets to scran them.”

He and Jamie collapse into laughter. Jamie wants to be a mechanic because he likes cars. Andrew decides that maybe he’d rather work in a sports shop than a burger bar.

Zara Broughton, 11, doesn’t think there are any really bad children. “I think they just get harsh opinions.” Her friend Caitlin Tinkler, who is also 11, suggests: “Or they think they’re not going to get attention so they behave bad to get attention.”

The girls may not have seen much evidence of children behaving badly but they can’t say the same about adults. Zara says: “I’ve heard adults shouting when they’re drunk. This woman and man fell out and started shouting when I was trying to get to bed.”

Worse than the shouts are the casual comments which linger and burn. Caitlin recalls: “One teacher said I wasn’t a very bright child. I don’t agree with that because I think I’m quite clever.”

Some of the young people at the youth project, not all of whom have been named in this article, admitted to run-ins with the police for things like playing on building sites, riding motorbikes illegally and retrieving footballs from school roofs.

Most said their mothers know where they are at night, although this included: “She knows I’m round Carlisle.” In this small sample twice as many children’s parents lived apart as together.

More than 150 young people are registered with Petteril Bank Youth Project. About 20 were there when The Cumberland News visited, playing pool and computer games or sitting quietly drawing and making bobbles for the woolly hats with ear flaps which seem to be at the forefront of Harraby fashion this winter.

Lucy Gaizely, the youth project’s manager, feels young people get a bad press “and 99 per cent of the time it’s completely unfair. In a community like Harraby the media are perpetuating anxiety. There is a fear of young people and there’s a really negative attitude to them: the music they listen to, the clothes they wear.

“We’re trying to reverse that and give young people an opportunity to express themselves. I think young people represent how they’re treated by adults. There’s obviously a small percentage that do a disservice to their peer group but overall they make a really positive contribution to society.”

At nine o'clock in a dimly lit alley off Shadygrove Road, where Bargain Booze and Booze Buster face each other across the street, a pack of children is hunting in the wild.

About 20 teenagers talk and laugh and, in some cases, swear and smoke. One young man sucks on a joint. None of his friends takes up his offer to share.

Animals. This is what 53 per cent of Barnardo’s survey respondents said that children behave like. Those here, most aged 13-16, do not agree.

“It’s stereotypical. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” says one girl. “They treat us like imbeciles. They’ve got no respect for us.”

“Sometimes it’s true,” says her friend. “But they [adults] used to do what we do.”

A 16-year-old boy says: “The police could be catching murderers but they’ll come round here instead. They just think the worst of us all the time.”

Some of them claim to have been barred from local shops or allowed in only one at a time.

They proudly point out the paintings on the side of Raffles Family Centre, some of which they created and praise the staff.

One 13-year-old boy has just discovered the joy of balancing on a wall and flicking a Cumberland News reporter’s ear.

Back home most of them have TVs and computers in their rooms. So why are they roaming the dark streets of Raffles?

“You get bored at home. You get to socialise here. Just hanging with your mates.”

Some have curfews but not all. One girl is supposed to be back home by 9.30. “If I’m a minute late I have to be back a minute earlier tomorrow.”

What do they think about adults? One girl says she respects her parents but a lot of the comments are negative.

“My dad’s fallen out with us. He’s always in the pub.”

“When you go down Botchergate on a night you see them fighting.”

What do they want to be doing when they’re past the age of gathering on the street? There are some shrugs. Two girls want to go to university, one to study nursing.

There’s a blast of cold air down Shadygrove Road. Nearly all of the teenagers simultaneously reach behind their heads and seconds later they’ve become a gang of hoodies.

“What’s up my homies?” The loudest of the group, a 16-year-old boy who seems to be taking part in the opposite of a sponsored silence, starts laughing and his friends join in.

Two of them begin talking in what turns out to be backwards slang. In forwards slang, “ladgeful” is apparently the new word for embarrassing.

Many of the adults who walk these streets would say that young people do intimidate, deliberately and unknowingly. There is violence and aggression and pack behaviour. But those here tonight were not animals, at least not under a newspaper’s gaze.

Some were friendly and enthusiastic, others sullen and withdrawn. A range of behaviour. Just like adults.