Bolton holds first Young People's Conference

The myplace support team recently attended the first Young People's Conference, an event for the young people involved in the development of myplace projects in the North West of England.

The day started with a ‘Market Place' in which projects were able to display their plans and ideas for proposed buildings. The groups came up with some really impressive stuff such as models, CGI pictures and fully 3D animations and fly-throughs.

For many it was the first time they had visited the unique Bolton lads and Girls Club and their Young Ambassadors did an exemplary job in hosting and giving tours of their buildings.

After lunch there was an ‘issues' workshop, the first of several workshops throughout the day. During this projects could look at any issues or problems they had had when designing and developing their myplace project. By sharing experiences with other projects they were able to learn valuable lessons for future ventures.

Following the workshop all the young people (and some not so young) were invited to take part in a range of activities on offer at the Bolton Lads and Girls Club. They were treated to boxing, climbing, dance, arts and crafts archery and football. These activities really helped to bring people from different projects together and were well received by all.

Once everyone had recovered from the activities it was time for some more workshops. On offer were workshops on transport, design, managing money, responsibility, and websites. They were run by various people from organisations involved in the different areas of myplace and went down well with those who attended. All the workshops were very interactive and the groups were challenged on ways they could improve their myplace project.

Amy Shephard attended the event on behalf of the myplace support team and was impressed with how the day went.

She said: "It was really great to see young people from all the projects across the North West coming together, interacting with each other and having fun. It was really well organised and there was plenty going on to make sure everyone was kept interested.

"The Bolton Lads and Girls club is a brilliant place and they really made everyone feel welcome. The workshops were also really well run and covered topics that are really important to myplace projects. All in all a great day and hopefully there will be another one next year."

The day concluded with well-earned thanks going to all those at Bolton Lads and Girls Club and also to the many others who contributed in making it such a successful day that will no doubt become an annual event.