When Dave Peacock from Whickham contacted Gateshead Council to ask for help to transform a local garden, he never dreamt he would soon be working with young people who had committed offences to help make amends for what they'd done.
It was then that the Whickham Hermitage Recreation Project became a focus for Gateshead's Youth Offending Team.
Young people who commit offences are often given referral orders - that's when Gateshead Council's Youth Offending Team gets involved. Part of the plan the team put together for the young person is to do some reparation work, which gives them the opportunity to put right what they have done wrong. This project is just one of many local schemes in which young offenders are putting something back into the local community.
Untouched for over 60 years, the area was once a rich man's folly, housing a summerhouse, boathouse, watchtower, lake and tennis courts. Dave saw the potential of the garden for future generations and now volunteers and young people doing reparation work have been transforming the garden with a new greenhouse, raised beds for growing vegetables and planting. The work should be complete next Spring when local community groups will be able to use it.
Since the project began, over 100 young people who have committed offences have worked on the project every weekend.
Dave says: "I was a bit nervous at first when we began taking people on reparation orders because I wanted the garden to be a good thing that people would look after. When the young people come here I'm not interested in what they've done, I want them to get something out of working on the garden - and that helps us - we're already six months ahead of schedule.
"It seems to work for them because they see a purpose to it - they take ownership of it - even if they're not from this part of Gateshead - and then they take that sense of pride back to where they live and treat their own community with the same respect. There's never a cross word and it's marvellous to watch them."
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