Comment on 'Growing out of trouble' on BBC2 with Monty Don

In this programme, working alongside probation, Monty Don hopes to give six young criminals a chance to discover a different way of life. His idea is to get them to work on a piece of land, transforming it into a small farm. Six young lads were picked, one of which had been taking drugs since the age of 9. One of them was injecting speed in the school toilets at the age of 14, and had been in prison with his Dad. They had all grown up with this sort of life, and this project aimed to give them a chance to escape it.

The first programme covered the period trying to set up the project, unfortunately this was not very successful. Monty found a piece of land, which was ideal. But he was summoned to a village meeting, where he listened to the villager’s objections for the project to take part in their community. Being a decent bloke, Monty said if it turned out that the villagers voted against the project going ahead, they wouldn’t do it there.
The whole village voted and I think the vote was 98 against the project and 36 for it.

So this was the first obstacle, Monty had to go in search of some more land. I was absolutely disgusted at the villager’s vote. Six people were going to be transported to the field, work there for the day, and then be transported back. The villagers probably wouldn’t even see them. Due to the villager’s inability to give these people a chance, the project was set back for months.

The young people were very disillusioned, but still determined to go ahead with it. They had grown up with this way of life, and unless a person is very strong, the chances of escaping a life of drugs and crime are slim. The villagers not wanting them around could have knocked them back; they could have given up, but they didn’t.

Next came a fight with bureaucracy, as each stage of the project, had to wait until it had been signed and sealed by probation. Monty began the search for some other land, and wherever he went he made sure he talked to the local community. Unfortunately, in the 7 or 8 months it took to get the project started, one of the lads died from a heroin overdose. Could this have been avoided, if the project wasn’t jeopardised by narrow minded villagers and bureaucracy? Maybe if he had started working on the land, he would have seen a different way of life and began to feel better about himself.

The next instalment of ‘Growing out of trouble’ can be seen on Tuesday 12th of December. Let’s hope they get over these obstacles, and actually start building their farm. Expect some more commentary on this series.