Yoga to save youth

12/03/2009

Singer's son returns to Glasgow to teach kids Indian dance-stretching

Adam Forrest

The son of legendary Glasgow crooner Frankie Vaughan is to follow in his father’s footsteps by attempting to quell street violence in Easterhouse...using yoga.

Vaughan famously returned to his native east end community in 1968 to encourage a knife amnesty, talk with gang leaders, and set up a youth centre called the Easterhouse Project.

Now his son David Sye will attempt to work the same magic by teaching kids Indian stretching and breathing techniques in an effort to offer alternatives to drink, drugs and violence. He hopes to help kick-start a new community centre on the site of the one his father helped establish, which is now derelict.

“These kids are not bad; they’re potentially full of life, but they’re bored out of their heads and ignored,” Sye told The Big Issue.

He explained his previous success in getting gangs from Brixton to leave their guns and knives at the door. “In the beginning they wanted to murder me and by the end they’re hugging me. It’s a beautiful journey.”

The yoga instructor, who has also brought Palestinians and Israelis together for classes, has developed his own style called ‘yogabeats’; a form of movement that involves dance music. “It’s not about finding the right positions. It’s about feeling good.”

Richard McShane, a tenants association organiser in the east end of Glasgow, is heading up attempts to find funding for a new Easterhouse Project. He is delighted Vaughan’s son is returning with something new. “I’ve seen what he does and it works. If he makes kids feel good about themselves without drink or drugs then it’s a positive way ahead. It’s a start to other things.”

McShane hopes the new centre would hold dancing and singing classes, and has been given conditional permission by Glasgow City Council to look for funding on the basis the old site can be used again.

"In Frankie Vaughan's day people were getting slashed, beaten up and murdered," he said. "Forty years later, people are still getting slashed, beaten up and murdered. There's no point in pretending everything's wonderful when it's not wonderful.

"But for the first time in a long time there's a feeling here of wanting to get things done. We're fed up hearing about kids on the streets. Give us the facilities to help us get them off the streets and give them some opportunities."

David Sye's yogabeats' session will take place on Sunday 15th March at Platform, The Bridge in Glasgow's east end. See www.yogabeats.com for details.