A Govan youth project is taking a group of young people to Belfast to educate them on the dangers of entrenched sectarianism.

John Aitken is a youth worker at The Govan Youth Information Project (GYIP), which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

He was caught up in the tensions on the night of August 30, when riot police swarmed the streets following an Irish Unity march and counter protest near Elder Park.

He said: "There were loads of Union Jacks flying about and people wearing balaclavas and scarves over their faces.

"We were trapped and couldn't get out either side. All of a sudden people were running down the street. It was chaos, there were bins on fire, it was like a scene from Belfast."

That night inspired John to organise a trip to the capital of Northern Ireland, a city torn apart and still haunted by the spectre of sectarianism.

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John started attending GYIP when he was 15, a place he could retreat from teenage tension with his father. Now 29, he is a full time project youth worker there.

He said: "GYIP is somewhere that even when you leave, you always want to come back and see what's going on but luckily I've managed to get a full time job.

"I didn't have a bad upbringing but I had clashes with my dad and it just gave me that escape.

"I don't know where I would be without GYIP, I would have probably gone down a different path. We're like a wee family in here."

Most of the current staff came as children and teenagers and now help organise the project's busy free programme of street outreach, school workshops and holiday clubs.

During the summer holidays, the project is a lifeline for working families, who can't take time off and can't afford daycare. Other children of parents struggling with alcohol and drug addiction are given safe haven during the breaks.

Around 100 children a day attend the hub in Water Row during the holidays the only meal they'll eat that day.

Making sure children with more needs feel secure at the project means treating every child equally, John said.

"What we really try and do is to treat everybody the same. That works because , maybe coming from their upbringing, they don't get treated the same as other people. That helps them more than being singled out."

Without GYIP, Govan would suffer a big loss, not only the young people but the adults too.

"Without us parents would have to pay for holiday care which would have a longer term affect because they're spending money they wouldn't normally have to. There's also countless young people who have come through the doors here who have left and went on to a career such as teaching and they may not have done that if it hadn't been for the youth work."

Hearing the impact of the work he and his colleagues do "feels amazing", said John.

"People have come back and said, oh, if it wasn't for GYIP I wouldn't have been a teacher . It feels like you're actually doing something positive because in this job you don't always get a start and an end because you're working on a longer term project."

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In Govan High, Bellahouston Academy and Rosshall Secondary School, GYIP hold regular workshops on racism, alcohol and drugs.

"That's been a successful piece of work because the young people like a new face and they don’t need to call us sir or miss.

At the project, badminton is popular with the young people, as is football, table tennis, gaming consoles and the bouncy castle. They are taken on trips to Ayr -128 went on the last day summer holiday club - or along the Clyde on speedboats and now, a group of 11 are preparing to go on a five-day trip to Belfast next month.

Witnessing the overspill of tensions in August, John was worried for the young people in the area getting caught up in the physical or ideological clashes stirred up on both sides.

He said: "The streets were kind of crazy so none of the young people could get to the club that night. We thought it was time to target this and try to reduce it."

Some of the young people have already chosen a side, more because of football associations than political affiliations, John said.

He said: "We thought we could reduce it by taking some of these young people over to Belfast for anti-sectarianism training."

The Glasgow contingent will be hosted by the Corrymeela Community, a Christian peacebuilding group dedicated to healing social, religious and political divisions in Northern Ireland.

John said: "They'll teach us about the troubles and take us a tour of Belfast to show the young people just how divided it is and make them realise this isn't what we want for our city."

Following the training, the young people will earn the title, 'Agent of Hope and Change' becoming peer educators for others.

John said: "If we can have these young people teach other young people what they learned then that's going to help us all massively."