A charity which provides support for children whose lives have been shattered through crimes such as violence, abuse and murder will receive a £1,000 boost from Cleveland Police Authority and the Force on Wednesday (August 19th).
Cleveland Police Authority Vice Chair Peter Race MBE will join with Deputy Chief Constable Derek Bonnard and Assistant Chief Constable Sean White at the Force headquarters to present the money to Dominic Chambers, Manager of Child Victims of Crime (CVOC), who is on a marathon fund-raising cycling tour of all police forces in England, Scotland and Wales.
As well as providing help for individual children referred to them by the police, the charity has pioneered the development of 'Tag Rugby', a non-contact version of the sport which is aimed at promoting children's safety, health and welfare and strengthening links between the police and local communities.
Earlier this year the first TAG Rugby training event was held in Cleveland, involving officers and community support officers with the aim of taking the sport into local schools.
Says Peter Race "CVOC does a great job in working with the police to look at ways in which children who have been traumatised by crime can be helped -- it can range from vouchers for them to buy something from a shop, providing a new mountain bike or helping them go on a trip to Disneyland -- and in working with children a wider basis through the Tag Rugby programme.
"Dominic Chambers has taken on a huge challenge to cycle to every Police headquarters in the country -- he began on August 1st and by the time he reaches us on Wednesday he will have covered getting on for 2,000 miles. The money we hand over will be targeted specifically at helping children in our area."
Deputy Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Derek Bonnard said: "Child Victims of Crime provides both a supporting role as well as a wider community engagement role through its TAG Rugby scheme. We are delighted to support both elements of this important work by raising some money ourselves and introducing TAG Rugby into the Cleveland Police area."