On Sunday 29 October, we ran our first Youth Voice event at Somerset County Cricket Club in Taunton. 60 girls and young women between the ages of 14-30 joined us along with 10 of our region ambassadors to learn skills to help them use their voice and empower and inspire them to make changes to the issues they’re passionate about. Mandy Hickson, our Reach for the Stars ambassador, opened the day with a talk about how she overcame challenges to become one of the first female fast-jet pilots in the RAF, telling stories of how she got to where she is today.
This was followed by ambassadors Brogan, Laura, RAdm Jude and Anjana joining a panel discussion hosted by 2 of our young members, Grace and Chloe. They chatted about what they wanted to be when they grew up, how they found their voice and grew their own self-belief and advice they would give to young women to follow their passions.
Abiee and Maddie, our Lead Volunteers for Youth Voice and Participation ran a group workshop around creating guidance for youth voice engagement.
The afternoon workshops were run by our ambassadors, peer educators and 2 Girlguiding advocates on a range of topics including ‘there’s power in politics’, ‘finding my cause: living in a man’s world’ and ‘representation and positive role models’. Some members had to complete a survival exercise, working as a team to overcome difficulty, while others learned how to become a climate change champion.
It was a brilliant day, with lots of engaging discussions, thought-provoking arguments, and a chance for our young members to chat and meet our ambassadors. We all came away feeling inspired, motivated, and empowered and cannot wait for future Youth Voice events.
