A TEAM of youngsters from Ryedale has won an award for helping the local community.

The P Town Raiders, who live in Pickering, won the Eboracum Safety and Security Challenge as part of this summer’s Lifestyle challenge.

Organised by North Yorkshire Police, the challenge encourages young people aged between 10 and 17 to carry out a project over the summer holidays that would benefit the community.

They then had until the end of September to work on their project, recording all they did in a log book provided by the police.

The P Town Raiders’ project involved redesigning graffiti on a wall at their local play area, Hawthorn Lane Park, to modernise the play area for the local community to use.

The judges said: “The P Town Raiders needed to get permission from Pickering Town Council and presented their ideas for the wall using handouts and answering questions around who will be supervising the painting.

“They then met at the youth group, developing the artwork and looking at positive messages, such as recycling to prevent litter.”

They added: “The town council also said they could paint the wall on the other side with their design, which shows the trust they had gained.

“It helped improve local residents’ negative perceptions of young people, having such a positive outcome.

“They learned how to work together as a team.”

The wining teams were presented with their prizes, including certificates and vouchers at York Racecourse earlier this month.