Zoe Green, a young girl from Moulsecoomb, who attends Patcham House school, entered a competition ran by the Community Base. The competition was open to all the secondary schools in Brighton and Hove and it was asking the younsters to write a story entitled “What Makes a Good Community”. The chosen winner would get a £50 prize. Well congratulations go out to Zoe who WON! Zoe was presented with her prize on the 14th January at the Community Base. Check out for yourself Zoe’s winning story written below:

I live in a community that is misjudged. Before I moved to Moulsecoomb I never went out so I used to be stuck in my house all the time doing nothing. Where I lived no one would help each other and no one would be there to listen. That is not a good community! However in Moulsecoomb people help each other and stick by each other. This is a sign of a healthy community. Even though people in Moulsecoomb find it hard to get a job or try to get help from the council, just because they live in Moulsecoomb, they are not defeated.

Once, I went into Mac Donald’s and there was a girl from Moulsecoomb working there. She had given me the wrong meal so I went back to someone else (because I didn't want to upset her) and the lady said “I'm sorry about her she's from Moulsecoomb.” And it is not just one person, others are prejudiced against us too. That proves that even Moulsecoombers are not trusted in Mac Donald’s. My boyfriend has tried to get a job down town and as soon as they find out that he is he's from Moulsecoomb, they say that they haven't got any jobs to fill. He's been looking for a job for the last two years. I also know people who have tried to get jobs as policemen, but they are always turned down. This is discrimination because where you live doesn't make who you are.

People are too scared to move to Moulsecoomb, but as long as you don't get on the wrong side of people you'll be alright, in other words we need to get on with our neighbours. The same as where ever you live, there will be people that you don't want to get on the wrong side of where ever you live. Therefore a good community is a community that sticks together and helps each other out with problems. I would say that Moulsecoomb is a good community because we stick by each other through the bad and good.

Youth Articles from Past Issues...