The parliament would like to say a massive thank you to Liz Stephenson, Centre Manager of Ocean Road Community Centre and all the staff there, for supporting the work of the parliament every week.  

The staff at Ocean Road always have a smile when you walk in and the hospitality is 100%.

We are always well cared for and looked after and it makes our job a lot easier knowing we have a great base to work from. 

Thanks to Liz, Charlene, Norma, Betty, Sue, Jonny and Scott.

Young lads from the parliament worked together with a group of lads from Jarrow Project at a recent trip to Brathay Hall in  Ambleside in the Lake District. 

The lads took part in team challenges to tackle healthy lifestyles issues which included high ropes challenges, a canoeing challenge and team challenges around the grounds. 

The young people took the responsiblity to plan the event, organise the equipment needed and decide on what learning they wanted from the weekend.   

The weekend was certainly a challenge for everyone involved and would not have been a huge success without the help of John and Paul Bate from Brathay, also supported by their workers Allan Moore, Mick McVeigh and Tracey Moore. 

More 'lads projects' are planned for 2010".  For more information please contact Tracey Moore, Youth Participation Officer on 0191 424 7718.

The parliament have signed up to a service level agreement and have agreed to carry out 5 major consultations for the council this year.

Pictured are the parliament taking part in a budget consultation exercise and using a interactive voting system which gives instant results from the members. 

For more information contact Tracey Moore, Youth Participation Officer on 0191 424 7718.

The parliament undertook a 2 year research project with the National Youth Agency to find out the views of young people around youth participation. Barry Smith the researcher met with young people, practitioners, managers, directors to find out the views in South Tyneside.

A full report is available from Tracey Moore, Youth Participation Officer on 0191 424 7718.

The parliament are working closely with Mark Freeman from South Tyneside Libraries to help design new centres and also to give their views and opinions about how to improve library services to make them more appealing to young people today.

Young people explained that if the centres looked more modern and colourful and the teenage section of the library had more choice of books then more young people would use libraries.

Young people also want the chance to volunteer in the library service to gain work experience. We are really enjoying working with Mark and look forward to seeing the results.

Pictured are Hayley and Kyle running sessions with the new parliament to help ease them into their new posts.

The session was looking at roles and responsibilities and ground rules. 

The participation team are previous parliament members who now help to run the sessions with Tracey to pass on their learning and experience.

Its important to remember that one-to-one work is vital to youth work. Pictured is Tracey taking a little time out with Craig (East Shields Rep) at the piano, to talk about life, issues, problems and positive things.

Craig is doing amazing things at the moment - he is working with the parliament, a member of the Check it Out team and he volunteers the rest of his time at Ocean Road Community Association. Well done Craig - proud of you! 

The parliament ran a session talking about anti-social behaviour and perceptions of others.

In this photo it shows a member of the parliament dressed in a hoody and the second photo a young person reading a book. In both photos it is the same young person.

We talked about how people might perceive young people - does it matter how you look? Is it a problem to wear hoodys?

A full report is available from Tracey Moore, Youth Participation Officer on 0191 424 7718.

Town twinning experiences with Epinay Sur Seine in France

The Young People's Parliament hosted 4 french students for 5 weeks in January 2009.

The students gained work experience in the Town Hall doing admin and accountancy work and then worked with the Young People's Parliament in the evenings to work with young people. 

Special thanks to The Cave, Simonside Youth Centre and Ocean Road Community Association, Halls of Residence at the college for looking after the students so well and the Fighting Fit Martial Arts Group. We would like to wish Gertha, Dimar, Marine and Hager lots of luck with their studies.  For more information and full report please contact Tracey Moore, Youth Participation Officer on 0191 424 7718.