'They are thirsty': Dudley youngsters resort to stealing water as poverty bites

Community workers in Dudley say poverty is so bad for young people from deprived areas they cannot even afford water.

Adam Bradley and James Bragg work with people aged from 11 who are growing up in the toughest parts of Dudley offering them opportunities including training for future careers.

The duo, who have been working with young people for a decade and are set to open a new youth hub and community centre at The Forge in Dudley’s Churchill Centre, say the area has plenty of problems.

Adam Bradley said: “If you go around the town centre you will see there are lots of issues, as there are in most town centres.

“You will see kids loitering; not up to no good but there is potential there for it to turn into something uglier because they have got nowhere to go and nowhere to feel safe with trusted adults.”

The forge is set to be kitted out with a variety of facilities for young people including music and podcast studios but the need for the basics is also evident.

Adam Bradley said: “One of the first things we are buying is a water fountain because we know kids will come in here thirsty.

“In the centre we walked around a couple of shops where there had been thefts, some of the people we work with have gone in and picked up water because they haven’t got access to water.

“Its been very hot and they haven’t got a drink, it was next to electronic toothbrushes and all that

“I’m not condoning what they have done and we will stop it but they have picked up a bottle of water when they could have nicked a £20 toothbrush next to it.

“With young people pinching water it is 100 per cent because they need a drink.

“It’s easy to take things for granted – a drink of water; it’s startling the number of young people in Dudley who haven’t got access to that.”

The pair run training courses including sports coaching and regularly have to provide water for students.

James Bragg said: “They don’t bring their own water bottles, we don’t think it is for a lack of wanting to, we think there is no money to be bought out with them.”

Parts of the borough are among the most deprived in the country, 28 percent of Dudley’s population live in the poorest 20 percent of local authority areas in England.

While the statistics show the extent of the issue, community workers at The Forge deal with the stark reality.

Adam Bradley said: “You see it in the kids, you see resentment, there was one person wearing shoes two sizes too big and a pair of shorts three or four sizes too big and he had them on every single day – that tells you there is an issue there.

“There was a brother and two sisters, they couldn’t take enough food home and that tells you the family is struggling.

“It wasn’t the child being greedy, it was ‘can we take this home because its a family meal’, we reached out to Black Country Food Bank who provided us with lots of food.

“Deprivation has a huge impact, we do specialist mental health support and it’s getting more and more over subscribed.”