Wren Article - The Youth of Weston Rhyn

[neo 6]

I have just read through the Wren, downloaded from this site (thanks Community Online) and read the article 'The Youth of Weston Rhyn' Does the writer not realise that there is a youthclub in Weston Rhyn?

Interested to hear what others have to say about this article, to me it reads a little patronising. If the writer thinks there is a need, maybe they should do something about it and show this 'public spirit' they speak of.

I have attached the article The Youth of Weston Rhyn.pdf

Edited December 3, 2012 by neo

[leebarnfield 30]

In response to the article, wouldn’t it be great if the sentence in the opening paragraph said, I have also learnt about the sterling work with the youth in this community. However, I don’t believe and I am not sure other people in the village believe that the Quinta should necessarily provide provisions for the youth in this village. I believe it is up to us alone to provide for our youth and invest in the communities’ future. Our youth will be the next Parish Council, the next Weston Rhyn Trust and the next Institute Committee.

I have a worked in various youth activities for over ten years and ran the youthclub in Weston Rhyn for the past four years. The fact that in those four years I have never met the author of this article I think speaks volumes and it appears that they have a somewhat naive idea of how a youth organisation operates. Weston Rhyn youthclub operated with a chairperson, secretary, a treasurer and youth workers all of which are CRB checked. The club was affiliated to the SYA and insured to protect the members and workers. We also got virtually no support from the local council and it also cost us around a £1000 a year to rent a space to run the club despite constant discrimination.

Is it easy to sit at home and think that something should be done in the community, maybe have a little rant, maybe even write an article in your local newsletter about it, but thinking that someone else will do it is not the way forward. I think this was my driving force behind community online and the community forum I created, the aim is that it will allow people to meet, to collaborate, to bring our community closer together and in some way hope that we can make a difference to the community in which we live and make it a better place for everyone.

This all of course requires one major component, that we as a Community make the choice to get out of our armchairs and actually do something in our own community. So my question goes out not just to the author of the article but to everyone....

What have YOU done to make a difference in YOUR Community?

[Maggie 65]

Well said that man!

I know how hard the youth club committee, and Lee in particular, worked over the years to keep the youth club going, despite the lack of support from many in the village. I know how much work goes in to each application for funding, whether or not they are successful. No way is it 'just a couple of 18 year old girls' who are needed. Shropshire council do not give grants out for this sort of thing, other than via the LJC, which has supported the youth club in the past, but nowhere near the levels of funding needed to cover room hire (£1000 from Stute plus various amounts for supposed damage caused by the youth club), Insurances, activities etc etc. It is a bit late in the day for the Quinta to offer use of its facilities to the youth club, maybe this should have been done a few years ago; one costly problem in Weston Rhyn is that transport is needed to get young people to many activities because Weston Rhyn has few local facilities. Mr Bullen seems to have a very naive idea about what is needed to get a youth club running and even more naive idea that there is a plentiful supply of money sitting in 'the council' just waiting to be asked for... I wish! Many of us have supported the fundraising activities in the village over the years, such as a race night, Victorian Fair, etc etc. all of which have taken hours and hours of organizing. The youth club committee were very successful in getting grants too, But in the end it was all too much and the youth club folded this summer. It is my belief that if there had been more support from the village, and the Stute committee in particular, then we would still have a youth club, however, if Mr Bullen manages to get a youth club going again then I will also support his efforts via any fundraising activities etc he plans. Weston Rhyn village should support all its citizens, and that includes the sometimes stroppy teenagers. (I'd be more than stroppy if I was still young and stuck without transport with nothing to do in such an anti-youth village).

[Carry Wood 0]

Can't believe after all the year of hard work by leebarnfield my own mother and a few other people that this article actually went to print!! The person in question obviously has no idea on Weston Rhyn village life!! As for normal village kids actually being welcomed by the Quinta..... well that's the funniest thing I've heard in years!!