This year’s national youth forum was a big one! A few of us travelled down with a handful of others from the county to attend the event in Larch Hill Scout Centre. It was an early start on a cold Saturday morning when we arrived to register for the event; soon after, we attended the opening ceremony where we got to hear from the Chief Scout and the head of safeguarding!
From there, the sections broke off into different spaces so that they could all benefit from the workshops that were running during the day, such as ‘What is a Rep’ and ‘How to write a motion’, among many others. The workshops were very interesting and definitely helped the young people learn more about what being a rep entails, why they should run to be one and notably, how to write a motion. Overall the day was incredibly informative, but it was also a great opportunity to meet and work with like-minded people from around the country.
To finish off Saturday, the facilitators ran a brilliant campfire where everyone came together, from Scout to Rover, to sing their hearts out, which was fantastic to see. You may think it was time for bed at this stage, but of course, we weren’t done quite yet; we ended the night with a quiz, which was great fun!
After breakfast on Sunday morning the sections all came together to discuss motions, many of which were passed; it is great to see the youth empowered by events such as these. The sections then split up again for their speeches and voting before lunch; those who had run were anxiously awaiting the results.
We are proud to say that one of our Rover Scouts, Órlaith, was voted National Rover Rep!
It was a fantastic weekend all around, and we would encourage all youth to go to the next one for the opportunity to have their voice heard but also to enjoy an event where you can socialise with other Scouts from across the country, and you never know, you could be elected as one of the next youth reps of Scouting Ireland!