A different view
- 1 Aug 07, 02:18 PM
We like doing OBs on the Breakfast programme on Five Live. But there's always a bit of an issue about getting places where things are happening at the kind of anti-social times we go on air.
So this morning at about 0620, when crowds of teenagers struck up a chant "Oggy,Oggy, Oggy" (that's one for spellcheck) and a man started playing the bagpipes, we knew were in for a different kind of programme.
Shelagh Fogarty was capturing the sights and sounds as 40,000 scouts celebrated the 100th anniversary of a youth organisation which now claims 28 million members around the world. These were not the "don't-get-out-of-bed-till-midday" types. It was barely dawn, but these teens were bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and having an absolute ball.
Normally stories we do on the programme about young people tend to focus on things like binge-drinking, drug-taking, underage sex or obesity. There was little of any of these to report this morning.
But did the listeners mind? Well, largely no. Interestingly there was an overwhelmingly positive response - even on texts which normally are rich in cynicism.
Many people seemed to welcome hearing a different view of young people. Ok, some of the response was from former scouts - or parents of youngsters in the throng at Hylands Park in Chelmsford.
Yet a significant number were from people just pleased to see the world through a less depressing prism for a change. Some even said it made them wish they'd joined up as a child.
It doesn't mean obesity isn't still a major issue, and that we won't be reporting on problems like underage drinking. But it might just give us extra reason to pause for thought.
Richard Jackson is editor of Five Live Breakfast
