BOLTON YMCA YOUTH COUNCIL

Youth Council & volunteering
The Council has doubled in size and there has also been an increase in youth volunteering. Young people have written their own constitution; helped other youths apply for funding; made sure that all the projects have run smoothly and are currently looking into an exchange project. They have been central to the Halloween and Christmas Awards Bash and we have two youth council representatives to the board of trustees.
 
Carol Competition 2009
The Youth Council entered Tower FM's carol competition, writing, rehearsing and recording a carol about poverty. They were then asked to sing at Victoria Hall & Tower FM's carol service which was recorded for a Christmas day airing. 11 young people (nearly all of whom had never been to church before) wowed the congregation at the service, just missing out on winning the overall competition. The certificate can be proudly found at the top of the stair well outside reception and CDs are now on general sale.
 
Sexual Health Event
9 young people represented Bolton at a sexual health summit at Crewe Hall following on from last year's Claim Your Voice project. They were asked to put 3 questions to an expert panel in the hope that their views could influence new youth policies. The event was attended by around 150 young people from all over the North West.

Murder Mystery Evening
On Wednesday the 15th December 2010 the YMCA held its first murder mystery evening for the youth council. The evening started with the pizza and the youth sitting talking to the murder suspects. The youth were then divided into teams and they had an hour to visit each room and question each suspect before returning to the dining room to accuse the murderer. The night finished with "Ivan Egoe" the gym instructor being dragged off after the youth had correctly accused him of murdering the YMCA president.
 
"You have two turns of the sands of time to figure out who did the crime!"