Coun­cil­lors and al­der­men from both po­lit­i­cal par­ties put aside their dif­fer­ences and fo­cused on the youths of Va­len­cia by par­tic­i­pat­ing joint­ly in a Sports and Fam­i­ly Day held at Va­len­cia Recre­ation Ground on Re­pub­lic Day.

The ob­jec­tive was to stop the surge in crime in the area.

Neil De Sil­va, coun­cil­lor for Va­len­cia, said it was the first time coun­cil­lors from dif­fer­ent par­ties came to­geth­er for a com­mon goal which is to have the youths in­volved in ac­tiv­i­ties that will keep them ac­tive and away from crime.

Over 100 youths par­tic­i­pat­ed in a foot­ball com­pe­ti­tion. “This is the way for­ward for the youths,” De Sil­va said.

Sil­va said it was not on­ly so­cial­is­ing that was demon­strat­ed but skills and dis­ci­pline in­volved in the youths achiev­ing goals.

Par­ents were seen in num­bers cheer­ing on their chil­dren.

Oth­er ac­tiv­i­ties in­clud­ed wind­ball crick­et, re­lays and jump­ing.

Of­fi­cers from the Va­len­cia Po­lice Post turned out in their num­bers to be part of the Sports and Fam­i­ly Day. They did not on­ly pro­vide safe­ty, but some par­tic­i­pat­ed in the 100-me­tre race.