Ambassadors hit the north-east

Our brilliant myplace ambassadors have been on the road again, this time to the north-east of England to myplace projects in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. Actress Sadie Pickering and historian Katie Williams joined project members and young people at the centres to see how they're getting on. Both visits were squeezed into one day, with the morning being dedicated to the Custom House project in Middlesbrough, whilst in the afternoon everyone made their way to the Northern Lights Academy in Hartlepool.   Click here for video

At each of the projects Malcolm McClean gave an inspirational speech about how important myplace centres are and what they mean to young people around the country.

Following this, all the young people were split into two groups for the ambassadors' workshops. One group went with Sadie and the other with Katie to take part in activities and challenges specially devised by the ambassadors.

Sadie is better known as Flick from TV show Waterloo Road and so it is no surprise that her workshop involved acting and role play. Sadie gave the young people a crash course in dance and acting before taking a backseat and letting them do the work. Sadie gave the young people a Waterloo Road script to work with and let them act out the scenes on their own.

This went down a storm, with everyone, including Sadie, having a good laugh and really getting into the role play. Sadie did a great job of engaging the young people and giving them a good idea of what being an actor entails.

Katie's workshop was a completely different affair. She captivated her group of young people with talks on writing biographies, and with stories of local history, including ghost stories and how the area has changed through the ages.

Again, all the young people thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and really took a lot out of it. One of the myplace Young Consultants, Matt Howie, attended Katie's workshop and said it really opened his eyes.

He said: "One thing I learnt from the workshop was that everyone has a story to tell. It was really informative and she was a great speaker."

As is the norm with ambassador visits, everyone is given a tour of what is going on before a photo opportunity involving the ambassadors and the young people.

Wendy Kelly, project manager of the Custom House, was really impressed with how the visits went.

She said: "We really enjoyed the ambassador visit to Middlesbrough last week. The feedback we have had from the 6 schools who attended has been excellent and they have requested more events replicating last week! The event enabled us to engage with 30 young people who had not previously been involved in myplace. We got some really good press coverage which will hopefully get some more young people and stakeholders on board. Please extend our thanks and appreciation to all involved and once again thanks for all your support throughout."

Similarly, Mike Young, project manager at the Northern Lights Academy in Hartlepool, was a bit overawed by the experience. He said: "Thanks to all of you for such a fantastic opportunity, I'm still in shock to be honest and I must apologise if I babbled at times...What a truly inspiring time."

The Middlesbrough Custom House project was awarded a myplace grant of over £4m and will house a performance and dance hall, café, chill out space, crèche, climbing wall, media studio, interactive library, music facilities, gym and a bowling alley. Outdoors, there will be a multi-use sports pitch, allotments and wildlife gardens.

Likewise, the Northern Lights Academy is a £4.5m project and will feature world class facilities such as dance and recording studios, a theatre, and counselling services.   Northern Lights is due to open in September 2010, with the Custom House due to follow in the summer of 2011.   The ambassador visits always provide an inspirational day for all involved and this was no exception. A big thank you to Katie, Sadie and everyone at both projects.   Our Young Consultant, Matt Howie,was shadowing Malcolm and the Bearhunt team that day. Readhis Day in the Life of report.

See more photos taken on the day at Custom House in our Photostream.

The Custom House Project Page

New Life Centre Project Page