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myplace Ambassadors spreading the word

Thursday, 02 July 2009 12:48

Tags: Ambassadors | east midlands | events | Hinckley | Leicester | myplace support team

by John Pringle - myplace Young Consultant

A BIG thank you to young people in Leicester

sanjay_dighe On the 22^nd June 2009, Sanjay Dighe, the England Chair of the Big Lottery Fund paid a visit to Leicester. From a platform set up in Haymarket Shopping Centre he talked to the public about the £270 million government funding that has been provided to build world-class youth facilities throughout England. He spoke about how the individual myplace centres will be built putting local young people's ideas into action. Half of the awards committee were made up of young people and Sanjay thanked them for their involvement because it is leading to world-class facilities which will benefit young people for years to come.

How to become an Olympic Champion!

sir_steve_1 Sanjay then introduced Sir Steve Redgrave as an Olympic Champion and a myplace Ambassador. Sir Steve recently hurt his foot when he slipped on some grass on his way back to his car after playing golf. He then slipped on his crutches and broke a toe on his other foot. Regardless of his injury he still travelled all the way to Leicester to be part of the first public myplace promotion.

Sir Steve told how, as a young person, there was only one place for young people in the village he grew up in, and it was only open for one night each week. It was his mother who had set up the youth club next to the village pub and Steve used to go there with his siblings.

sir_steve_2 He enjoyed sport at school and his English teacher, Francis Smith, used to love rowing and asked Steve if he would like to take it up He did, found that Francis made rowing so much fun that he found a love for it and was eventually asked to take part in a race. Steve's team won the first race and so they entered several other events and the team won them also. The next season didn't go so well, so they trained very hard and then won the following season. Steve did not see the training as hard work because of the enthusiasm of Francis who made it so much fun for the team.

sir_steve_3 He explained that the more you put into something the more you will gain from it. His hope is to help young people gain opportunities and believes the more fun the myplace youth centres are then the more likely the young people will be interested. Sir Steve also says that he loves the myplace concept where young people are getting involved in the design process and that he is proud to be part of the myplace programme which is going to change young people's lives.

sir_steve_4 Malcolm McClean, the founder of Bearhunt, then stepped up onto the platform and congratulated sir Steve for inspiring the 2009 special Olympic team which resulted in their victory. Two of the contestants from that Olympics then presented Sir Steve with an award.

Sadie gives an acting masterclass ...... to some penguins?

sadie_1 Malcolm then introduced Sadie Pickering who is best-known as the character Flick in TV's Waterloo Road. She is also a myplace Ambassador. A question and answer session started between them. Malcolm asked Sadie how she got started in creative arts Sadie replied that she had started acting when she was young and went to acting schools She also said that she has had a passion for acting since she was young. She believes that the passions of young people can all be fulfilled under one roof with myplace.

sadie_2 Malcolm asked about her thoughts on myplace. Sadie says that the myplace buildings sound like they will be a great place for young people to be. They will be able to get involved in many activities and access support services. She is very excited about the project and hopes for its success.

sadie_3 Malcolm then thanked everyone who came for their time and then told everyone that Sadie was going to hold an acting master class for the young people who had missed school to promote the myplace project.

sadie_4 In the acting class Sadie got a group of twenty young people to do warm-ups and energetic activities, some of which were hilarious to watch. This included acting like penguins while singing "Have you ever had a penguin round for tea? Take a look at me, a penguin you will see." Then there was some role-play improvisation and they acted out scenes from Waterloo Road, during which Sadie gave the young people guidance and positive feedback. The young people appeared to be very enthusiastic and had enjoyed their lesson with Sadie.

Steve and Sadie visit Hinckley myplace project

sir_steve_5 While this was happening Sir Steve was behind the scenes giving a radio interview and signing autographs for everyone. When a group of about fifteen young people approached him to ask for his autograph, he was not phased by them and very happy to spend time signing autographs and talking to them.

After Sadie's class and after she had also spent time with the young people signing photographs for them everyone went to Hinckley, which was a twenty-minute drive away, to visit a myplace project site.

hinckley_1 At first when we arrived in Hinckley we came to an existing youth centre which was built fifty years ago. The man who built this centre had such a love for running the place that he was sad to be moving to a new location. Because he had built this centre it was understandable why he would be upset to see it go after fifty years. Apart from this he is excited to see what the new "world-class" youth facility will be like and he will still have a role in running it.

hinckley_2 Both Sir Steve and Sadie repeated their speeches for the people who had attended this event in Hinckley and both Steve and Sadie were again a hit with the young people. Two of the young people then presented Sir Steve and Sadie with an award and then everyone had some light refreshments before walking over to the site of the new myplace youth centre.

hinckley_3 At the new site everyone was excited to know that in a year's time there will be an amazing facility providing world-class activities and services for young people on the spot they were standing. Some more photographs were taken of a group which included the man who currently run the youth centre, Sir Steve, Sadie and a handful of young people mimicking digging the grass.

hinckley_4 At the end of this a nearby school finished for the day and when they heard that Steve and Sadie were there they flooded the site and then it was autographs and photos all over again. Both Sir Steve and Sadie were happy to sign for this army of young people which shows the two myplace Ambassadors are perfect for their roles.

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