Club Times
Issue 21 - November 2016
Joint newsletter from the Community Learning and Development Service and Orkney
Association of Youth Groups.
Introduction
Welcome to the issue 21 of our Club Times - November 2016.
Well time certainly flies when you are having fun! Read more to find out what has
been happening with our various youth groups around Orkney over the past year. If
you would like any of your news stories published in the next issue then please send
them in to us, we would be delighted to share with everyone what you have been up
to!
Orkney Association of Youth Groups (OAYG)
The OAYG has had another busy year with Junior and Senior Fit4fun Days with well
over 130 young folk attending between both days. The activities available were kick
boxing, jewellery making, pampering, dance, scar make up workshop, trampolining,
climbing wall, archery, judo, face painting, crafts, cartoonist, carpet bowls and
orienteering.
Here is what some of the Youth Workers that attended thought of the day:
“I had two girls say that they had never met and were now the best of buddies!”
“It was great how all the kids got on so well.”
“Variety, meeting new people it was brilliant!”
OAYG gained funding from Lottery Awards for All, to be able to send 7 Youth
Workers away to the ‘Big Skills Weekend’ in Edinburgh, which is held by Youth
Scotland.
Some of the workshops included: Creative Approaches to Health and Wellbeing,
Team Building, Teenage Relationships, Active Fun, Conflict Resolution, Young
People and Tobacco, Getting It Right For Every Child and more. The Youth Workers
gained a lot from the weekend and learnt a lot of new things which they will use and
implement in their clubs.
OAYG also helped a group of 12 young people attend the ‘Young People Taking The
Lead’ in June, again held by Youth Scotland. Around 200 young people attended
and took part in workshops which developed their confidence and knowledge and
gave them the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
Workshops included: Maximum Fun Minimum Resources, First Aid Ready - Are
You? Active Martial Arts, Speak Your Mind - Youth Mental Health, Conflict
Resolution and Urban Outdoors to mention a few. The young people brought back
many skills that they now share with their peers in Orkney.
Orkney Judo
The Junior Club is on Sundays at Picky, from 2-3pm, and has about eight members
ranging from 8 years of age to 15. The first thing new members learn is how to fall,
as that’s a major part of Judo. They learn throws, pinning techniques and various
falls, and also Japanese as all the techniques are in Japanese, but they need to
know what they mean. They play games, which are fun but also targeted at learning,
and had a grading recently where three of the members earned their 2nd Mon.
The club was also successful in securing Cashback for Communities funding for the
Junior Club.
New members are always welcome, sessions cost £2 for an hour, and membership
of the club is £5 for juniors for the year. We have a Facebook page, imaginatively
called ‘Orkney Judo’ and parents can stay and watch the class if they want to.
New groups in OAYG
Over the past few months there have been a couple of new groups starting up in the
West Mainland. One is called the West Mainland Adventure Group and the other is
the Birsay Kids Club. The West Mainland Adventure Group will run on Monday and
Friday nights in the Rendall Community Centre. The Birsay Kids Club will run on
Friday nights. So far the Birsay Kids Club has been very busy with a coffee morning
to raise funds for Macmillan and they also held a Halloween party.
Orkney Youth Cafe
Recently, the Youth Cafe has been doing a lot of promotion for the start of the new
term. We had a stall at Orkney College’s Fresher’s Fair; and we have also been
doing some outreach at KGS to advertise our service and new opening times; which
are Thursdays 3.30-6pm for S1 and S2s, Fridays 2.30-6pm for 13 – 15 year olds, 610pm for 16-21 year olds, and Saturdays 3.30-8.30pm for 14 – 21 year olds. We
have also been busy in the kitchen: we have held a sushi night, where young people
learnt how to make vegetable sushi; as well as a ‘Cheese Night’, where we made
macaroni cheese, had a cheese platter for young people to try different kinds of
cheeses; and one of our kitchen staff even brought in homemade cheese scones!
Other cooking creations have included pizza decorating, baking, and making soup.
The Café has also recently got a new pool table, which is very popular. On Scottish
Mental Health Awareness Week, we also held a mental health quiz with a prize for
the winners. Over the next few months, we are planning to run a couple of children’s
activity days as a fundraiser, with the help of some of the cafe’s young people; as
well as a retro gaming night, a movie night, and a band night featuring some of
Orkney’s budding young musicians. The Youth Cafe is open to 13-21 year olds, with
a games hall, pool table, Xbox, TV, Wii and free Wi-Fi; and offers a space to relax
with friends as well as offering support and provides a great sign-posting service.
Youth Work Week
We are having our annual Youth Work Week on 14 - 18 November.
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Monday - Team building - Youth Worker Training.
Tuesday - Youth Awards.
Wednesday - Conflict Resolution - Youth Worker Training.
Thursday - Youth Conference.
Friday - Children in Need Fundraiser in Orkney Youth Cafe.
The Youth Awards are being held in the St Magnus Centre, where we will recognise
the young people of Orkney’s achievements. They will be presented with their
Dynamic Youth, Youth Achievement, Duke of Edinburgh, Saltire and many other
awards which they have worked hard to gain over the year. The awards are
organised jointly between CLD, OIC, Voluntary Action Orkney, Orkney Youth Cafe
and members of the Youth Forum. Young volunteers also help with the event. They
make up a panel to decide who will receive a Summit Award. This is an award for
young people that have been nominated by workers, leaders and the wider public for
doing outstanding work in their community. They also help out on the day with
setting up, decorating and tidying up. Connect will be doing the buffet and
refreshments for the evening.
Our biennial Youth Conference will be held on Thursday 17 November, at 10am.
This year we are focussing on health and well-being. Young people are invited to
attend from the two secondary schools, the Junior High Schools, Orkney College
and local youth projects such as the Youth Cafe and the Connect Project.
It also offers an ideal opportunity for adults working in youth related agencies and
elected members the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the challenges
young people in Orkney face in their everyday lives.
During the conference young people and adults are divided into groups and move
between a series of workshops with youth related themes. Each workshop provides
the opportunity for discussion and questions.
The Youth Conference continues the on-going youth dialogue in Orkney and
compliments the biennial Youth Chamber Debate which takes place every other
year.
If you would like any further information on these events please contact any
Community Learning Officer or Area Youth Worker.
Youth Achievement Awards
Youth Achievement groups in the East and West Mainland have been busy over the
last few months.
Lucy Leech from the West Mainland Youth Achievers Group has been working on
her gold award. As one of her challenges, she arranged an ‘activity night’ for our
youth workers to give them some ideas of craft activities to do with our young
people. The training evening was a great success.
Kelsi Taylor organised a car wash for one of her Gold Award challenges. She raised
over £800 for the Fire Fighters Charity. Kelsi got help from the Stromness Fire
Brigade and her school friends to hold raffles and games along with the car wash.
The West Mainland Youth Achievement Group recently went on a ‘fact finding’ trip to
Northern Ireland. During the week they visited the Titanic Museum, W5 (an
interactive science museum), a tour of Belfast City, including learning about the once
troubled Shankhill Road, peace wall area and Stormont. Also in the week was a day
trip to the Giant’s Causeway – a must when you are in Northern Ireland, and learnt
about the giant Finn McCool and how he dressed as a baby to scare off the Scottish
giant Benandonner! This trip was possible through their own fundraising which
involved various activities in and around Stromness over the last year.
Youth Achievement Awards
The East Mainland Senior Youth Group have also been busy with their Youth
Achievement Awards.
Shawn Alexander has been doing the Shoe Box Appeal for a challenge for his
Bronze YA. He is filling 2 boxes to send off to less fortunate children for Christmas,
He has to fill them with nice things for the children and wrap them.
We met up with some young people in Deerness that are keen to get involved in
Youth Achievements. For some fun they had a go at juggling and poi and then made
smoothies.
The group are keen to get started on some outdoor activities.
The Teens Plus Club went on a trip to the Abernethy Outdoor Centre at the end of
September. The group had a fantastic time doing all sorts of activities such abseiling,
canoeing, archery and a ropes course. They had a barbeque on the Saturday night
provided by the Centre. The trip was funded by Give Us A Break.
If you are a young person or know of any young people that might be interested in
these types of activities and working towards Dynamic or Youth Achievement
Awards, then let us know!
MSYPs
Thorfinn Moffat and Jack Norquoy are currently serving as Orkney’s Members of the
Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP) and will represent Orkney’s young people until
their term of office expires in June 2017.
Amongst their duties and responsibilities whilst in office is to ensure the views and
opinions of Orkney’s young people are heard at the Scottish Youth Parliament,
consulting with their peers, campaigning on various local and national issues, and by
ensuring there is a strong Orkney Youth Voice.
At each March sitting, SYP hold their annual Scottish Youth Parliament Awards to
celebrate and recognise the achievements of the Youth Parliament in the last year.
Jack Norquoy was nominated by fellow MSYPs for the ‘One to Watch’ Award, and
‘MSYP of the Year 2016’.
A judging panel made up of representatives from SYP and other Scottish youth
organisations and charities, selected the successful award winners and on the night
Jack scooped the top award – MSYP of the Year 2016.
Congratulations Jack!
Youth Forum
Following the very successful Youth Chamber Debate last year, a small group of
young people (who had attended the debate), met with OIC Convenor Steven
Heddle, Bill Innes and Ernie Skea from the Community Learning and Development
(CLD) sector within OIC. One of the main outcomes of this meeting was the strong
support for establishing an Orkney Youth Forum.
The first Youth Forum planning group meeting was held in Stromness Academy in
April. Jack Norquoy and Thorfinn Moffat, Orkney’s elected Members of the Scottish
Youth Parliament (MSYPs) who were also present at the meeting, felt that such a
forum would be invaluable in providing a more regular opportunity for young people
from across the county to have their voices heard and to engage in discussions and
actions on a range of youth and wider community matters both locally and nationally.
The Youth Forum group held their fourth planning meeting recently. Jack Norquoy
MSYP, who chaired the meeting, said of the meeting, “it was a very positive and
constructive session as our plans are beginning to take shape. Exciting opportunities
and news will come over the next couple of months as we launch the Orkney Youth
Forum”.
Youth Clubs - Facts and Figures
Last year CLD operated a total of 19 Youth Clubs throughout Orkney.
The average nightly attendance spread over the year was 21.
Total attendances over the year throughout Orkney came to over 6000.
Youth Worker changes in 2016
We would like to say cheerio and a big thankyou to these Youth Workers for their
services whilst in post:
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Emma Rendall – Shapinsay.
Amy Esslemont – Stromness.
Isobel Alexander – Deerness.
Elizabeth Drever - St Andrews/Holm.
And we would like to welcome:
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Emma Springett – Deerness.
Leona Herdman – Stenness.
Karina Flett – Stromness.
John Ross Scott – Relief.
Morgan Geddes Ward – Relief.
Community Learning and Development Service Contact
Details
Orkney Islands Council – Telephone 01856873535.
Acting Head of Leisure and Lifelong Learning - Garry Burton.
Community Learning Development Team Leader:
Kerry Spence (extension 2425) [email protected].
Community Learning Officers:
Walter Gorman (extension 2423) [email protected].
Ernie Skea (extension 2424) [email protected].
Bill Innes (extension 2432) [email protected].
Area Youth Workers:
Maureen Herdman (01856851723) [email protected].
Lynne Peace (extension 2428) [email protected].