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City 2000 Youth ( Their Story )
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City 2000 Youth Issues Group in Clermont - Ferrand
In March, Salford Youth Service’s City 2000 Youth Issues Group took part in a 5-day trip to one of Salford’s twinned towns – Clermont- Ferrand in France.
The opportunity arose for the 6 young people and three staff to attend through the Town Twinning Committee and in particular we would like to thank Jan Roche (Salford Youth Service) and Councillor Warmisham for this opportunity.
The purpose of the trip was for the group to look at issues between younger and older people in Clermont Ferrand, meet some French young people that had been involved in a programme of work looking at transport in Clermont - Ferrand, to explore the issue of youth forums and young peoples voice in Clermont-Ferrand, to act as ambassadors for Salford and to accompany the Mayor and Lady Mayoress of the time (Councillor Stan Witkowski and his wife). This was alongside looking at the possibility of hosting a trip for a group from Clermont-Ferrand to visit Salford.
The group planned and took part in a piece of work focussing on intergenerational work and relationships between young people and elderly people before they went and during the programme of work in France found that some of the issues were not only common to Salford but were very similar in Clermont - Ferrand.
Transport was high on the agenda for the people of Clermont - Ferrand as a new tramway system was being built to increase links between the North and South of the City.
The French young people shared with us the video they had made and the learning process they went through to make it and we also heard from engineers on the construction of the tramway, visited the tram site and from an artist on a community project to make the buses more friendly.
The members of City 2000 and the young people from Clermont - Ferrand grappled with language barriers and shared the differences between each other’s cultures but also shared some similarities of being young.
We were interviewed by a French Newspaper and on French television and also were given the wonderful opportunity to be shown round not only Clermont Ferrand but also the surrounding and beautiful Auvergne region.
This included a sulphur lake in the volcanic mountains, a spa bathhouse and a castle alongside the picturesque countryside.
We were also shown round Clermont-Ferrand and visited some of the historic churches and viewed the different architecture.
From the moment we arrived to the moment we left our French hosts could not do enough for us. They booked us into our accommodation, showed us round, bought our meals, transported us everywhere, helped us buy gifts, explained everything to us and even sorted out any problems we had, particularly the lost luggage on arrival.
As always, on such trips things do not always go to plan and there were many hiccups on this trip however these only added to the excitement and enjoyment of the whole trip for both the staff and young people alike. Some examples to be aware of for any youth workers undertaking any other trips include cancelled flights; the group being split and some going to Amsterdam then France whilst the rest went to Italy; lost luggage; people getting ill; arguments with airport staff because the plane wasn’t big enough to take a wheelchair and last but not least beware of airport toilets with faulty locks as young people can get stuck in these particularly as your plane is boarding!
We would also like to thank Councillor Witkowski and his wife for being great sports particularly in the mountains and for the reception in the Mayor’s Parlour held for the group when they returned.
To all who helped this trip to happen THANK YOU.
Some comments from the group who took part include:
Learned about French lifestyle.
Young people do not have a youth forum.
Mayor was brill.
Everyone had fun.
I enjoyed myself and learnt a lot about France and the lifestyle. Glad I went.
(Aaron B)
Enjoyed myself. French people made everyone feel welcome. (Lee)
Had great fun. Would do it again. (Aaron F)
Written by:Lesley Shanks
Senior Youth Worker
City 2000
Salford Youth Service
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