Youth Council Annual Report

ANNUAL REPORT
May 2000 - May 2001
The Whetstone Youth Council, the first parish-based youth council in Leicestershire became a formally constituted group in August 1998. To create links with other youth councils around the country we are members of the British Youth Council – a national representative body for a wide range of youth organisations.

MEMBERSHIP
The previous chairman to the Youth Council Linda Poultney resigned in April after leaving the Village. Jaclyn Homer took over the chair, and Lisa-Marie Feerick elected to the vice-chair position. At the May meeting we had nine members aged between 13 and 16. Emma Tapley was co-opted to the council at the June meeting bringing membership to ten. Claire and Laura Simpson along with Emma Gilbert resigned at the August meeting, followed by Becky Wightman at the January meeting of this year. Current membership remains at six – the minimum allowed under our constitution. Lisa-Marie is the only remaining original member from the first Youth Council meeting in August 1998.

YOUTH NEEDS QUESTIONNAIRE
A draft analysis of the questionnaire was complete during May, and a summary of the findings was published in the Duckpaddle Newsletter. The final Youth Needs Report was approved at the October meeting. The Village Appraisal Group offered to print and distribute the finished report to every household in Whetstone. Copies also went to the Local Authorities and other interested parties. Findings from the Youth Needs Questionnaire should help set the Youth Council’s agenda for the next few years.

CONFERENCES, ETC.
Richard attended the European Youth Policy conference in Stoke on Trent in August.
Due to a lack of funds we were unable to send anyone to the British Youth Council Seminar at York, also in August.
Jaclyn was accepted to represent UK youth at the UN Conference on Global Warming in The Hague in November, with the prospects of further involvement at both national and international level.
Alexa, elected as one of the three youth MPs for Leicestershire in November, attended the first UK Youth Parliament meeting in London in February.
Thanks to some free tickets from the Leicester Mercury, and subsidized use of the Commbus, youth councillors and their friends had a great time at the American Adventure Theme Park in October.

PROJECTS

Skate Ramp
The skate ramp project was considered complete in July. This follows a short problem period when the open end of the ramp designed as a shelter was being misused. The shelter was boxed-in with galvanized sheet steel, but as consolation to the regular skate ramp users, two long benches were installed alongside the ramp, which doubled as ‘grinding rails’.
Since completion of this project there has been a minor graffiti problem, and occasional complaints about noise from the users. On the whole it is a great success, and very well used.

Anti-Graffiti Project
Following a meeting with David Budd, the community policing officer, the Youth Council was encouraged to become involved with a Crime and Disorder Strategy, initially to tackle graffiti problems in the village. We successfully applied to the Blaby District Council for a grant to purchase a digital camera to photograph the offending ‘artwork’. The results are e-mailed to the police and the Parish Council to help identify the culprits, and hopefully get it removed.
The Parish Council received a grant from the same source to remove the graffiti.
This will obviously be an ongoing project, and fortunately there has been very few new outbreaks since the scheme started.

Goalpost on the Park
Although it’s taken almost a year, the goalposts are finally up, and being well used on the Trinity Road and Oliver Parks. The one on the Worsley Way open space was taken down after a few days following complaints by local residents.

Lighting on the Park
Our request for better lighting on the Trinity Road Park back in October 1998 as finally been approved. The findings of the Youth Needs Questionnaire and Village Appraisal obviously influenced the County Council Lighting Department’s decision.

Shelter on the Park
The idea of putting a ‘Teen Shelter’ on the park was dismissed by the Youth Council three years ago because it could attract the wrong type of person. However, this was the main reason for applying for one this year – to give the young people who have nowhere to congregate socially a meeting place of their own. Somewhere outreach youth workers can work with them, and the police can keep an eye on them. Our application for funding by the Blaby District Council was successful, and a cheque for Ł3776.50 was forwarded to the Parish Council.

Discos
There have been no discos organized by the Youth Council during the past year. The one planned for last August was cancelled, partly because it coincided with a charity concert, and partly through lack of support. The charity concert was subsequently cancelled. An improperly supervised private disco party at the village hall to which the police were called, jeopardized other youth events at that venue. Although very popular and well attended, the local youth centre has postponed their monthly discos through lack of supervision.

Video Projection Equipment
The equipment has had a lot of use over the past year, but not always within the village. We did a series of film shows at sheltered retirement homes in Sapcote and Kirby Muxloe, and one for Age Concern in the council offices. In collaboration with the Phoenix Theatre we staged children’s film shows at the Southfields Library and one at the Afro-Caribbean Centre.
The equipment is regularly borrowed by the Whetstone Baptist Church, and occasionally by other churches for presentations or baptism ceremonies. We even loaned the equipment to a private company for a two-day seminar.
Although the projection equipment is not utilized to its full potential in Whetstone, the income it generates is quite considerable, and has proved necessary to finance other projects.

Youth Drama Group
The Youth Drama Group performed a 'Musical Extravaganza' to family and friends in the council offices in June. This was something they had been rehearsing for the previous six months, but afterwards Leanne, who led the group for two years, moved on. Caroline Mendoza, a drama teacher living in the village took over the drama classes in October.

Baby-Sitting Register
This is an ongoing project administered by the secretary. There are currently 14 baby-sitters and 51 children on the register. Most of the baby-sitters have completed a first aid or baby-sitting course. There is very little feedback from either the baby-sitters or the families registered, and because of the work involved interviewing people and updating records, this service is not widely advertised.

FINANCES
Income for the year from grants and fund raising activities amounted to Ł6113.47
Expenditure for the year came to Ł5804.97

SECRETARY’S COMMENTS
I appealed to the Parish Council in February for help with the ever-increasing amount of youth work generated by the success of the Youth Council, and with the fund-raising projects necessary to sustain the Youth Council’s activities. I suggested voluntary help, utilization of professional outreach youth workers, or proper funding to continue the work ourselves. I stressed the need was for traditional youth work and not administrative help.
In response, a working party of parish councillors, local authority representatives and youth councillors are looking into the situation.