TWO students from Matravers School have been elected to serve on the Wiltshire Youth Council and were welcomed by Wiltshire Council leader, cllr Richard Clewer, when they sat in on the first meeting on Saturday 5th March.
Connor-Jay ‘CJ’ Elmes is 12 and mad about F1, and Rebekah Slarke, 14, is heavily involved with cadets and performing arts. Both will now attend monthly meeting to discuss issues that affect young people and to ensure their voice is heard.
Rebekah said, “I really enjoyed our first meeting as we got to meet all the other youth council members and we also got to meet quite a few of the sitting councillors themselves, which was really nice to get to know them and their role.
“The council members actually each stood up and explained their role in detail and so we learned a bit more about the kind of thing we would be doing in the future and to see if any area takes our fancy.”
CJ added, “I really enjoyed meeting other like-minded people who are all there to help, and it’s a good way to make some new friends. To get more of an understanding of what councillors do day-to-day was really eye opening and it was especially good to meet the leader of Wiltshire Council.
“I found the first meeting to be quite welcoming, there is a real sense of community.”
Youth councillors are asked to commit one evening per month to attend a full youth council meeting, which will focus on issues important to the young people. The role will also require them to talk to their peers about the issues and represent their views. There will be training to support them in their roles, covering topics including debating, running a youth review/inspection and delivering presentations.
Rebekah said, “The youth council is a lot more than what I expected; when I first heard about youth council, I thought it would be just a step up from the school council but it’s actually pretty wide spread and seems to cover a huge area as there’s so many people involved with it.”
CJ said he wants to focus on improving services for those who are disabled and Rebekah said she wants to look at supporting military families, arts, tourism and health and well-being.
The youth councillors have the option to shadow Wiltshire Council members and Rebekah will be following in the footsteps of the leader of the council, cllr Richard Clewer, as he conducts council duties.
Rebekah added “When we first ran for youth council, we had to create a manifesto full of ideas. One of my ideas was to create mental health hubs all around Wiltshire so young people have the option to talk to someone trained when they need to and this is definitely something I want to look into more.
“I think quite a lot is already being done to make people aware of mental health issues but I think people aren’t aware of what is actually on offer to help them. For example, I think the first time I heard about a mental health helpline was three weeks ago, and I can’t be alone in that.”
CJ said, “The youth council and politics in general is something I’m considering for the future and I definitely want to progress into another role rather than just a youth councillor, if I get the opportunity to do that then great.”
