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Question Time with North Somerset Youth Parliament 23rd April
A special Question Time event took place in Gordano School, Portishead on 23rd April 2012. Members of UK Youth Parliament for North Somerset, Peter Davies and Benny Fones along with many other enthusiastic young people from the Portishead area held an event to debate and ask questions surrounding local issues for young people in North Somerset.
Members of the panel:
Jemma Cooper- Weather Presenter for BBC Points West
David Fricker- Head of North Somerset Coaches
Peter Davies- Member of UK Youth Parliament for North Somerset
Lisa Pilgrim- Councillor for Weston-Super-Mare Milton and Old Worle and Chair for Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel
Adam Kraushaar- Deputy Head Boy of Gordano School
Jeremy Blatchford- Councillor for Nailsea North and West and Executive Member of Children and Young People’s Services.
Sheila Smith- Director of Children and Young People’s Services at North Somerset Council
Gary Lewis- Head Teacher of Gordano School (Not Photographed)
The event went extremely well showing that many young people have an interest in local issue and would like to get their voices heard and be listened to by the decision makers within North Somerset. The keen interest in politics displayed by the young people was encouraging to see, it really displayed to many that more should be done surrounding political education in schools including the Head teacher of Gordano, Gary Lewis.
Young People Influence Somerset Councillor's Decisions- 28th March 2012
Gemma Cain and Sophie Deakins members of The Youth Parliament Advisory Group met with Somerset Councillors, on Wednesday 28th March, to make decisions on how to divide a £2, 900 grant, from the council, to two Sedgemoor youth clubs.
The end result ment that Westonzoyland Friday Club would recieve £400 and Victoria Park Community Centre in Bridgwater would recieve £2,500.
Gemma Cain, Sedgemoor Member of UKYP said:
' It's good that Somerset County Council has made this fundng available when money is so tight.'
So well done Gemma and Sophie!
[Left to right: Councillor Julian Taylor, Bridgwater Eastover Ward, Sophie Deakins, Deputy Member of UKYP for Sedgemoor Somerset, Councillor Gill Slocombe, Bridgwater Wyndham and Gemma Cain, Member of UKYP for Sedgemoor Somerset.]
UKYP Regional Residential- March 2012
Members of UK Youth Parliament from the South West attended a regional residential from 23-25 March 2012 to plan their campaigns, learn about their role as a member of UKYP, find out about e-safety and even try a bit of cooking, candle making and letter writing Tudor style.
The group of 11-18 year olds took some time making Tudor style biscuits, candles and emulated the way that the Tudors would have conducted a banquet, which even included eating with their fingers and dressing up in traditional costume. The activities, provided by Hooke Court, Nr Beaminster, Dorset, made for light relief from the challenges of planning local manifestos and completing actions plans for the year ahead, to represent and give young people a voice in their local area.
Other residential activities included: ‘Everything you need to know about being a Member of Youth Parliament’, media training, ‘political jargon busting to understand words like big society, social change, and constituencies’, Staying safe online, and debating topical issues such as ‘votes at 16’ and ‘cigarettes in plain packaging’.
South West Members of UKYP at Hooke Court nr Beaminster in Dorset.
UKYP Regional Meeting 15th Feb 2012
The meeting was jammed packed as always and everyone started off with some extremely loud drumming and name games so that all of the new members and deputies of each local authority could get to know one another.
The Hansards, from The House of Coomons Debate, were given to each Member who attended along with a lovely picture of John Bercow! Everyone in the room then parted to debate whether tobacco companies should be allowed to advertise cigarettes through the packaging as this is the last allowed form of advertising seen on a daily basis by adults and children. The debate went extremely well with brilliant points mentioned by all.
Finally the meeting ended with a talk from Live Unlimited about how to access different grants for young people's project which will make a difference in the community. After the presentation the members and deputies set about mind mapping what was needed within their areas and whether or not they could then apply for a Live Unlimited grant to make a change in their community.
Elections - January-February 2012
Young People in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are rushing with excitement to ballot boxes in January and February 2012 to vote for the next young person to speak out on their behalf, and our young people in the South West are no different.
Members of UK Youth Parliament (MYPs) are elected to act as a voice for young people aged 11-18 on issues that really matter to them.
Voting takes place in schools, youth centres and even online.
The dates of the election for each area of the South West are seen below:
Swindon- 9th-20th Jan
Plymouth- 23rd-26th Jan (Voting Cast- 28th Jan)
Poole- 27th Jan
Torbay- 1st Feb- 8th Feb
Bath and North East Somerset- 2nd Feb
Dorset- 2nd Feb
Wiltshire- 6th- 12th Feb
Isles of Scilly- 10th Feb
Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Bristol all have a two year term therefore their elections are to be held again next year.
Shout teams up with Sounds Positive - January 2012
Jake Pitt, 15, Member of the UK Youth Parliament for Mendip is the leader of a great new project in Somerset called Shout. This is a project that enables young people to promote the positive things that they and others around them do for the good of other people. Shout is interested in reporting on any positive stories about individual young people, achievements by groups of young people that benefit others or community events organised for or by young people. If you are a young person and you would like to get invovled then please visit www.shout-somerset.com and enter your details.
Shout has also teamed up with Sounds Positive as both projects main aims are to tackle negative images of young people in the media! Free media training is on offer for all those that want to join Shout and live in the Somerset area. So if you are interested in joining Shout and recieving training then please contact Anna, Sounds Positive Development Worker at soundspositive@learning-southwest.org.uk
ALL YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE A SAY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS- 4th November 2011
Over 65,000 11-18 year olds living in the UK cast their vote to decide which five topics Members of UK Youth Parliamnet would debate in the House of Commons. On 4th November Members from across the UK voted on which five issues ought to become the priority campaign for the UK Youth Parliament in the coming year.
The highest number of votes went to 'Make public transport cheaper, better accessible for all' and this will become the priority campaign for 2011/2012, seeing young people across the UK campaigning and lobbying in their area.
