My first regional meeting with UKYP was amazing. I found it scary at first because it was only Shereen, Stacy and I going and Stacy went to an adult meeting so we didn't see her until Lunch. But in the end, I really enjoyed it.

Stacy, Shereen and I caught the 10:55 train and it was a 20-minute journey, even though the journey only felt like two minutes. I liked the train ride because Stacy and Shereen talked and explained everything.... which was good! We got off the tram at Warrington, caught a taxi and then arrived at Warrington Youth Club.

We were late so Shereen and I went straight upstairs and joined the Youth Meeting. We were presented with a piece of paper, on which we wrote what our main campaigns were. Then we went and visited other groups to see their ideas. It was only when we had visited our third group when we realised we should have stayed with one group, instead of visiting loads like we had planned. We learned a lot of things from the group that we stayed with. They wanted the three campaigns to be about Transport, Citizenship lessons (To be introduced and improved), and Facilities. After hearing the reasons why, Shereen and I also supported those campaigns. After everyone had decided what they would like to do, we held a debate.

We had some very good speakers (and listeners) and whenever someone said a good point, there were massive rounds of applause and cheers, which was nice! It was hard because everyone had at least one different idea to everyone else but finally, we decided we were definitely going to look into Transport. But we weren't finished. We still had to choose two more campaigns, despite there being three left. We were going to have to vote... but before that, we had to eat lunch.

We went downstairs and met up with Stacy. Then we joined the tedious lunch queue. After lunch (and some biscuits) Stacy went back to her adult meeting and we went to the second part of the regional meeting.

The second half was split into three groups and you could choose whatever group you wanted to be in. Shereen went straight into the Young Library group, whereas I (who didn't know what to do) went into the Young Ministers of Health group. That proved to be a mistake for me, as I couldn't even remember the last time that I went to the Doctor's!

So I went upstairs to join in the regional campaigns group. That also was the wrong group for me so I waited until Break to talk to Shereen about Young Library group. She really recommended it so when break ended; I went into Young Library group with her.
I really liked Young Library group because I knew what they were talking about and I felt very welcome to join in. They were really nice and explained everything that I had missed. They did five activities in total. (Three of which I missed out on.) In the first activity, they drew a figure, and then labelled it with the skills and roles of a representative for a Young Library Leader. (Something that both Shereen and I are!) E.G, a Young Library Leader needs to Publicise. Why? Because you have to let more people know more about Libraries. Roles include acting as a link between Youth Parliament and Decision Makers, organising events/promotions to get Youth Parliament involved with Libraries and to attend meetings of the Regional Youth Libraries Group, which happen within your local area at least once a month.

So after that meeting we met up with Stacy and drove, in a taxi, to Warrington Train Station. We took the train back to Manchester Piccadilly and then got picked up by our dads.

I loved the Regional meeting and I hope to go on another one soon. It's a good job that I volunteered for so many things.

Marike

Page 1