'WHEN a lad leaves school at 15, and finds he can't fit straight into his new life, there is a terrible gap ahead for him. Bored but not bad, he may end up in borstal, and the chances are that this will simply groom him as a probable candidate for prison.
At a Press conference on Monday, whein, her bestseller, Bury Me in My Boots, was launched as a paperback, Sally Trench outlined her plane for a project to bridge the gap; to offer, as an alternative to the authoritarian care institution, support in a free atmosphere and a chance to -work creatively.
The scheme, called SPARK, is to buy a couple of derelict houses, and while the lads live in one they will renovate the other, and they will receive a wage for their work. Joiners, plumbers and so on will be employed to help them, while someone, probably a young woman, will live with them permanently to help keep things together in the house.
Sally herself will spend her working day on the project, when her seven children are at school. (She has married a widower with six children. and they now have one of their own.)
Rules will be kept to the barest minimum, providing a bare framework within which the boys themselves will' take as much responsibility as possible.
A formidable trust under the direction of David Astor is setting about raising £16,000 to launch the SPARK project.