Over the past few months, Charnwood Youth Councillors have been working towards a volunteering award organised by the Loughborough Lions Club. Currently four Youth Councillors have received their awards with others soon to be receiving them. The four that have recently received their awards were invited to a gathering with the Loughborough Lions club and were awarded by the Chairman of the group! Youth Councillors, Luke, Anjli and Michael achieved a gold award (100+ hours volunteering) and Rhea achieved a silver award (50+ hours volunteering). Youth Councillor Luke St Denis said "The Lions award gives young people an opportunity to be recognized for the contribution and the part they play in their local communities. It makes me proud to be able to take part in these awards because it makes me realize how much hard work I have put in to my community to help others". Youth councillor Rhea Heath doesn't plan to stop there either, she is now starting from scratch and building up those hours again in order to achieve a gold award "The lions award was a fulfilling and valuable experience of which I thoroughly enjoyed". The four youth councillors all received an certificate, a letter from the lions club and a badge.

Well done everyone!

On 20th April 2012 the Olympic Torch relay test event took place on the section of the official route between Leicester and Peterborough.

Charnwood Youth Councillor, Michael Meyerstein, was nominated by Charnwood Borough Council to participate in the test event for the Olympic torch relay. Michael said "It was an honour to be nominated to take part in the event. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that not many others will get to do. The whole experience was excellent".

Michael had to carry the torch over a 300 metre stretch, the last part of the leg at Loughborough university. At the end of the stretch Michael was greeted by Lord Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG).

The event was covered by many local and national radio and television stations and replicates the route the Olympic torch will take for the official relay.

On Friday 23rd March 2012 7 members of Charnwood Youth Council visited local young people who live in hostels and temporary accommodation provided by local homelessness charities. At the meeting, Youth Councillors explored the issue of youth homelessness and what could be done by participators and services to make them more effective.

This tied into Youth Councillors running a sponsored event entitled "Cardboard City" which saw them sleep rough for a night in cardboard boxes. This raised several hundred pounds for local homelessness charities.

The Youth Councillors found from their meeting with the homeless young people (aged 16-21 years):

• There is an urgent need for more affordable housing and supported accommodation to be made available. Some of the young people said they felt they stayed in temporary accommodation for too long.
• The homeless young people cited that they felt local youth homelessness and housing difficulties were triggered by poor education, poor coping skills, lack of self esteem, diffult family situations, poor parental support, over crowding in the family home and having mental health difficulties.
• Most of the homeless young people felt that the best support they received was from the voluntary sector and the charities.
• Many of the homeless young people felt hindered by the stereotyping and stigma that their situation gave them-making jobs and finding permanent accommodation more difficult.
• Nearly all the homeless young people cited that they felt they had a good directory of information about services and support targeted at them would help. Many stated that they had no idea where to go to find support and how to help themselves. They felt that such a directory would be very beneficial.
• Nearly all the homeless young people stated that they felt help and support wasn't given quick enough.
• Many of the homeless young people mentioned that they felt that training and work placements offered by Councils that targeted them would be a good idea to move forward.

In addition to Charnwood Youth Councils "Cardboard City" event, some video diaries were produced throughout the night for the local "Youth Shelter" to show at their conference style event. Some of the video diaries can be viewed on youtube, just search "charnwood youth council cardboard city" or follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFVSUN1hNmo

The votes have been counted and we are pleased to announce the results.

Members of Youth Parliament

• Karishma
• Poppie
• Helena
• Todd

Deputy Members of Youth Parliament

• Andrew
• Tamsin
• Omar

Thank-you to everyone who stood and everyone who voted.

Discuss these results on the forums

On 17th April the Town Mayor, Mrs Sharleen Thurman, was delighted to present an award of merit to Braunstone Town Youth Council in recognition of their contribution to the community, success in raising funds and organising activities for young people over the past year.

Omar Sharif, MYP for Dorset, is aiming to get 2000 signatures on his Downing Street public transport petition by June 4th, he’s nearly there with over 1700 - help him reach his goal!

We've been working hard to get a new youth councils site up and running, and here it is!

Nine members of Braunstone Town Youth Council attended a course in Emergency First Aid on 15th February at Braunstone Civic Centre. The young people were trained in resuscitation, recovery position, bandaging wounds and accidents and learnt how to deal with emergency situations. The four hour course was successfully passed by all the young people and thanks go to the East Midlands Ambulance Service for arranging the course. The young people were presented with certificates at a meeting of the youth council.