To Argents Mead today, to support the national Play Day activities.

The appalling weather mean that all the activities had to be moved into St. Marys Church  and Church Hall, but since this had been a planned contigency it didn’t effect the day too much.

An excellent turn out of parents and children,  sampling the face painting, den building, skittles, clown lessons, Wriggly Readers and Regio Emilia learning amongst others.

This years theme for the national Play Day was about making time for children to play, and hopefully a lot of the parents found it useful, even if only to keep their children entertained for the day - hopefully the will have found some interesting groups and activities that are around, and will have enhanced their knowledge about the importance of play - I certainly did.

Full marks to all the staff and volunteers - good planning and hard work stopped the rain spoiling the day!

I have returned from China, after an excellent trip to Beijing and the province of  Ningxia, bordering Mongolia.

Doubtless there are some people wondering who paid for this junket - the answer is partly the Chinese government, and partly myself. The only contribution  of the council was a small box of business cards and some plaques to give as gifts. I believe that there is a reciprocal visit beign arranged, but I have no idea of the financial arrangements for that.

I’ll be putting some detailed stories up on here over the next few weeks, along with some photos and others bits and pieces.

Bill Newton-Dunn’s office has provided me with an interesting leaflet about what the EU does for young people:

1) The Socrates education programme - through its Erasmus and Lingua subsidiaries - offers language students and their teachers the opportunity to spend time in another EU country. Something called Comenius promotes multilateral partnerships - whatever they are - between schools throughout the member states.

2) The Leonardo scheme is very similar, except it is focused on apprentices - applications need to be made by colleges/school rather than individuals.

3) Something called the Youth programme helps young folk take part in voluntary activity throughout the EU.

4) Those aged between 16-18 and still at school you may be eligible to visit the European Parliament under the Euroscola scheme - a few days sitting in on meetings and learning about the EU and its workings.

Of course our young people do have the opportunity to live and work anywhere in the 25 member states as well.

That’s actually a lie, it is a great facility for fathers of any vintage.

Last week while attending the launch party of the Earl Shilton SureStart Children’s Centre (highly recommended) I came across a flyer for a website called www.dad.info 

This website is essentially a one stop shop for all things fatherhood. It deals with everything from what to do from the moment yoe learn you are to be a father, to the more complex areas of money, relationships, health and pretty much everything in between.

I’m pleased that at last some efforts are being made to support fathers, and especially those that may not be in a relationship with the mother of their children.

What is even more pleasing is that these efforts do not stop at a website, they include special sessions and events for dads at the childrens centres and other men friendly activity.

The BBC report that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that South Yorkshire Police violated the human rights of two men whose DNA they kept on file, despite the fact that neither were convicted of any crimes.

Now, I’m not as keen on the laws of Human Rights as some of my party colleagues, but I think in this case the 17 judges got it (unanimously) right.

It cannot be right that the government wishes to run the country on the basis that at some point in the future all citizens may commit a crime, and therefore storing their DNA data is a useful deterrent and tool to help solve those future crimes.

It is an oft quoted line in politics that any given Government is finished once it stops trusting the citizens it represents. I think the current Government has passed that threshold, and is accelerating at an alarming rate.

Thursday saw the annual Voice of Young People conference, once again held at the meeting centre in Hinckley. I’ve probably eulogised enough about this event to most people, but for a group of 11-18 year old people to organize and run a conference of that complexity and scale is truly to be admired - and, I would submit, do a far better job than many professional conference providers.

It is also the only event in the Council calendar that both fellow Members (from all sides) and council officers give their time to entirely of, their own volition, and come along and support the event often for hours at a time. The free food probably helps too.

It should also be mentioned that the Youth Council received superb support from Lorraine Simpson-Ward, with Malcolm and his County team also helping to make the day go so well. Have a look at:http://www.thejitty.com/hbyc/conference.html for the rundown from James Hunter.

Today has been the quarterly meeting of the Leicestershire district councils Children & Young People Champions. This was a particularly enjoyable meeting, since we have now turned to thinking about how the group can have some practical outcomes, rather than simply being another talking shop.

I’ve come away impressed with some of the key projects that our host council, North West Leicestershire, talked us through. I’m starting to work out the ways that I can make a meaningful contribution as C&YP Champion, rather than just being a talking head, and I’m keen to take a few of my ideas forward.

In a fortnight I have the launch of the SureStart Childrens Centres in Hinckley & Bosworth, which has developed from a simple press conference to a two day extravaganza apparently featuring balloons.

I hope the organizers of this event paid attention to the way the Youth Council organized their event - best practice should always be shared!

If you are aged 16-25 years old, you are unemployed, and you are interested in doing something that is both challenging and highly rewarding then  read on…

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Leicestershire Fire & Rescue are bringing the Princes Trust Team Programme to Hinckley & Bosworth. You can read all about the programme here: http://lfrs-team.org/default.aspx

They are looking for the first batch of people from Hinckley to start a course on Monday 29th September 2008.

If you would like further information or would like know how to apply, use any of the methods to contact me listed on here…

Leicestershire Fire & Rescue are bringing the Princes Trust Team Programme to Hinckley & Bosworth.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this programme, take a look at the local website: http://www.lfrs-team.org/

This is an excellent scheme for young people, and especially those that have not had the easiest start in life - it makes them work both physically and mentally, and if it all goes to plan then it should help them on the road to long term quality employment and being generally good citizens.

At the moment they are looking for 2 week work placements for the young people, and also for a community project for them to get stuck into.

If anybody knows of anything that might suit, please let me know!

I am very pleased to see that the website www.activities4u.org has gone live, and is now fully operational.

Many people have said that they only hear about events and activities for young people after the events have taken place - because they don’t know where to go to find out about them. activities4u should help solve that problem, as it allows people to search for all kinds of activities, from sports to volunteering, all on one website which is very easy to use

If this website is publicised properly then it could be a huge success.

Two key documents are currently meandering their way through the Council’s democratic procedures: The Children & Young People’s Strategy and the Participation Strategy. Both of these documents have come about as a result of the Children’s Act (2004).

The former document is the Council’s long term strategy for engaging with children and young people, ensuring that the council is doing the best it possibly can for them. The latter document details the councils commitment to involving children and young people in the the decision making process of the council at all levels.

A great deal of hard work has gone into these documents, and judging from what I have seen from around the country, they should be some of the best examples.

My key concern as a Councillor, and especially as Children & Young Peoples Champion, is that all of this policy endeavour actually translates into some really tangible improvements for young people in Hinckley & Bosworth - it is all too easy to write the document and forget about the practice!