In November 2013, a group of local residents and school children travelled to London to learn about the UK Parliament and bring back information to make a positive impact in their local area.
As part of the BigLocal DY10 project, a school parliament is being established and children from St Oswald’s and St Mary’s schools in Kidderminster and residents of the DY10 area attended a full programme of events in the capital, acting as ambassadors for young people from the Horsefair, Broadwaters & Greenhill area.
Vestia Community Trust (part of The Community Housing Group), work with BigLocal DY10 to make a lasting positive difference to the area, and make it a better place to live.
The group met with Chair of the Local Trust, Kevin Sugrue and the Local Trust’s Communications and Learning Co-ordinator, Leila Wong. Local Trust works closely with Big Local areas and partner organisations to support residents to help them make best use of Big Local and their funding.
Kevin Sugrue said: “It is fantastic to see this level of enthusiasm from young people to get involved in improving life in their area. Big Local is about the whole community saying and influencing what changes should be made locally. Developing a youth parliament is a brilliant way of providing an ongoing platform for young people to stay involved.”
The group then attended the Houses of Parliament, as special guests of MP for Wyre Forest, Mark Garnier. They ‘grilled’ him for 90 minutes, with questions ranging from the bedroom tax to electricity costs.
Mark Garnier commented after the visit: “It is extremely important to engage our young people in the political process and to ensure that they are educated about parliament and the role of their MP. The children from St Oswald’s and St Mary’s were able to raise some very important issues and it was fantastic to see so many of our young people engaging in politics and really thinking about issues that affect their area.”
The experience enabled the group to take their knowledge back to other local students, raising the aspirations of young residents as they realise they do have a voice and can help shape and change their area.
