Our guest blog today is from Jago who is Chair of Redruth Town Council’s Youth Council.
Do you want to learn more about the Youth Council, and what they do and want to achieve? Keep reading below.
The Redruth Youth Council is the youth section of Redruth Town Council, we work together with the council to inform them what the young people in Redruth want and need. We have given our opinion to the council on a range of issues such as the play facilities in Redruth and the lack of recycling bins in the centre of town. These involved us taking part in research and giving presentations to the council presenting our findings and advice on how to best deal with these issues. As well as this we also have met the Mayor and discussed the role and its impact on the town.
In the past, we have taken part in many of the town’s festivals and given out mince pies with the Mayor in the run-up to Christmas. At the festivals, we have held snail racing contests (a historical Cornish event) and carried out surveys to understand more about the opinions of the people in Redruth. We have been on trips to further our knowledge of the bureaucratic systems of the UK, in 2017 we visited the Houses of Parliament and spoke with George Eustice – our local MP, and Tom Watson – who was at that point the MP for West Bromwich East. Then we had a session on different historical political movements and issues. This trip taught us a lot about the upper levels of government and the similarities between local and national government structures which helped us to structure meetings and run them in an official manner.
We are currently planning what we will do at the International Mining and Pasty Festival in September, and we are trying to do our bit to help the environment. We are organising a meeting with Redruth School’s Student Council so that we can work with the school to tackle common issues such as litter in the Leats. Furthermore, for a few years, we have been in the process of trying to get recycling bins on Fore Street so that people can dispose of their litter without it being sent off to the Landfill.
The youth council is chaired and governed by the members, and we hold yearly elections to decide who will hold the roles of Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and others depending on the issues we feel need a specialised role. We have a Clerk, who is a member of the town council’s staff who helps organise when meetings, keeps the minutes of each meeting, and writes a formal agenda based on requests of members or other groups that wish to speak with us.
I am the current Chair of the Youth Council, meaning I chair each meeting, ensuring everything runs smoothly and that every voice is heard. To do this, I need to stop people talking when it isn’t their turn and if the noise gets too much or a disagreement occurs, I bring the meeting back on track and focus on the agenda items. I move us through the agenda and introduce each item. My role requires me to be confident and observant so that the meeting doesn’t lose focus, I am aided in this by the Vice-Chair, the Clerk and together we run effective meetings.
If you would like to get involved, we meet monthly in the Redruth Civic Centre, and often attend the town’s events. We have a Facebook account where we post updates after each of meetings, or when something important happens. Click here to have a look.
Our next meeting is on the 21st of July at 4pm.