Every year, Youth Voice Executive Committee and Shout Out for SEND have the chance to take part in a fun activity as part of their volunteering with Buckinghamshire Council. But, this year was a bit different, as not only did we join up together to take part in this fun day, but also welcomed members of the Councillor Shadowing Scheme!
18 members from our groups attended what was a very successful and fun day for Youth Voice Bucks!
In this page, read all about how our day went from Izi, the chair of YVEC, and Joy one of our SOfS Reps.
Our trip to Parliament, by Joy
On July 31st we went on a trip to parliament with the Youth Voice Executive Committee (YVEC), Councillor Shadowing Scheme (CSS) & Shout Out for SEND (SOfS).
Everyone had a great time and got to learn and see some things that they we wouldn’t have been able to ordinarily.
We all met in front of Amersham train station and then began to get acquainted with the people we didn’t know. The train ride went smoothly (except for when I stepped in some gum that stayed on my shoe for the whole day), and we hopped on a tube to Westminster (a station me and my friends agreed looked really cool and rustic, almost sci-fi like).
I saw Big Ben for the first time which wasn’t as big as I expected. Then we went in through the visitor’s entrance at parliament, were scanned through security and split off into two groups. Our tour was very informative, we all learnt about the purpose of all the very large, grand rooms inside. There were a lot of epic art pieces that I’d never seen before, especially the seven (incomplete) virtues of chivalry that (I think) were inside the robing room. We even got to stand inside the house of commons!
When we regrouped for lunch, we met inside an exclusive fancy room where the new roles for SOfS members were announced. A debate was then held over whether it would be better to live without music or without the internet. Our very wise judge decided that team no internet had the strongest arguments. Then there was another debate over whether it would be cooler to have a pet dragon (or even be a dragon if you wanted) or be a wizard, team dragon was at a great disadvantage with only three members compared to the twenty or so on team wizard our second (also very wise) judge sided with team wizard and then it was time to leave.
After a quick browse in the (overpriced) gift shop we made our way back. At Marylebone we all got drinks each, which was very needed after a long day! I had a caramel frappe and although it was small, it was delicious!
We said our goodbyes and headed home to rest after a very fun (and tiring) day!
Izi’s thoughts on our trip
Thank you Lucy and Sam for organising such a wonderful day- it was super duper fun! 🤩 The whole day went well and I thoroughly enjoyed it! My favourite bit was actually the train ride there because I was able to speak to Angel and Jess I believe which was nice to have a convo on the way there and quite obviously the tour and game was super fun!!! 🤩 I honestly don’t know what could have made the day better!
For more information
If activities like this sound right up your street, why not join us?
If you’d like to find out more about Youth Voice Exec Committee, email YouthVoiceBucks@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk.
If you’d like to find out more about Shout Out for SEND, email ShoutOutforSEND@Buckinghamshire.gov.uk.