Youth Band Contest For Charity In Tauranga

Tauranga Blue Light will hold their second annual youth band competition on November 20, this year entitled 'Youth Aid - Rock The Park'. All funds raised will be donated to Project Hope, the Bay Health Foundation's latest mission to build a dedicated cancer centre in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Youth Aid follows on from a similar successful event last year, Party in the Park. Young bands are being asked to enter, free of charge.

Stardrunk have also agreed to perform as the feature band. Lead vocalist Andrew Holmes says the band is "stoked to be able to raise funds for such a good cause".

"It should be a rad day kicking back in the sun listening to loud rock music."

The event will be staged at Blake Park in Mt Maunganui, also used each summer for another Tauranga music fundraiser, 'Blues, Brews and Barbecues'.

Tauranga Police youth aid officer and Blue Light chairman Shane Blanchard says,"The days of Blue Light just being about discos are long gone. Here in Tauranga we host a number of events that are more appropriate to today's youth. That's what Youth Aid Rock The Park is all about, providing an event that young people actually want to be at."

National Blue Light Executive committee member Peter Davey says Tauranga is one of the most active branches in New Zealand.

"Blue Light aims to provide environments, free of alcohol, drugs and violence, where young people and police officers can positively interact,"

"Blue Light aims to create better relationships between young people, the police and the community. It's a form of reassurance policing that promotes the positives of general policing. Too often people's perceptions of the police are formed from the negative media attention we receive. If young people have positive experiences with police, they are more likely to respect them and the law as they get older."