Transcript
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Speaker: Welcome to the Exchange Podcast. I'm Beth Smith and part of the Good Practice Exchange team here at Audit Wales. As part our current series on community and town councils in Wales, today we're chatting to Blyne Avon Community Council.
Speaker: Blyne Avon have the first youth representatives on a community and town council. And on this podcast, my colleague Sean Oan will be chatting to Boyd and Dan about their experiences, as well as discussing the work they've done to bring the community together and raise the profile of the council on social media.
Speaker: So I'm here in Plain Aventham Council's chamber and I'm here to learn about the youth representatives. Would you like to introduce yourselves? personally So I'm Boyd Painter, I'm one of two youth representatives, I've lived in Blenavon all my life. ah Yeah, and we were appointed not too long ago, there was two of us appointed in a panel interview process.
Speaker: ah I'm Daniel Morse, I'm the other youth representative. representative I've lived in Blenavon since i was about 12 years old, but um very quickly grown to love it. um And yeah, I'm very proud to be a youth representative.
Speaker: Cool. So what do you do as youth trust representatives then? So a big part of what we do is attending meetings and giving the voices of young people in Blenav and making sure that their opinions, their needs, their wants, they're all heard in the council chambers. Because obviously I've always said it's grassroots institutions like this that can make the real differences rather than top down, go from bottom up. So... um Yeah, so it's about making sure that young people do have their voices heard and they're not just overlooked, pass one side, things like that.
Speaker: Essentially, we sit on a non-voting capacity, which means that um basically we're just meant to give ulterior and perspective because a lot of the time we felt like ah young voices really couldn't be heard and it was essential to make sure that everybody had a chance to have a say.
Speaker: um And it's great that we're here because we get to provide a different look on things, especially when it's a decision that affects lots people in town, like an event. And i me and Boyd might say, oh, well, have you thought about adding this or maybe this would look better?
Speaker: And that's basically what we're here for, really. A big part of that is, um like, coming back to the, I think it's the UNCRC, United Nations Convention, on the Rights of the Child. That's a mouthful. I think it's Article 12, and it's saying how young people should have their voices heard and things like that. So it's it's really pushing for that article and making sure that, you know, all these institutions do follow that.
Speaker: Okay, yeah, so you're observing the meetings and presenting your opinion and... helping influence the council to make better decisions in the end and then. Yeah.
Speaker: Is there anything specific that are we undertaking any projects as part of the council as well? So one of the most recent projects we did was the ah family quiz night, which was an absolutely fantastic success. You couldn't you couldn't fault it. It was absolutely brilliant.
Speaker: ah We worked with town council officers to enable to plan. We've worked with local businesses and also local people asking what you know they would want to see. um would We did it so you didn't have to register interest, you could just show up at the door because I think with community events it's just easier to do it like that rather than having to go through emails things like that.
Speaker: you know, we do ah focus on the young generation but also it's saying to into account, is the older generation going to want to email and declare their interest? Are they even going to know how to do that? So I think things like that showing up at the door is brilliant. and But yeah, the event was a fantastic success. Like I said, we worked with loads of local businesses and things like that.
Speaker: The thing I loved about the event that we managed to orchestrate is that um one of the things that I set out when we were applying for the role is that I felt like there was a divide between the older generation and the younger generation.
Speaker: um and then that's something that we wanted to include in our um event is that I think it should be for everyone, not just, oh, here's a quiz night for the older people, or here's quiz night for young people. We wanted it to be inclusive, so children are allowed, ah the prizes were fit for everybody, there was free pizza. We really tried to make sure that it could be inclusive as possible to bring the community together.
Speaker: And we adapted that in the name, didn't we? Like the family quiz night. We wanted to yeah push that it's a family event. That was really important to us. Yeah. And free pizzas, not to be Yeah, no, definitely not. Supplied by Munchies as well.
Speaker: Yeah, so, and someone told me as well that you're doing some work with community transport and things that as well. Yeah, so that was working in partnership with TVA, which is based in Pontypool, and it's looking at how we connect.
Speaker: Like, this is coming back to the older generation, but they find it difficult maybe to get to the dots appointment things like that. So we gave our input in recruiting drivers and things like that, because obviously it's all well and good saying, yes, let's have a community transport initiative. But it's how you achieve that, it's how you get the drivers and things like that. So we were part of doing that. And what we pushed was for more... social media and how you target your approach. So obviously you're going to want to look at probably newly retired people to you know give up their time to drive people around. So we were looking at how we use social media to gauge your interests and push ah forward push forward for them to come and join the initiative.
Speaker: Yeah, because and that then influences which sort social media networks and things you use. Yeah, definitely. So you see you see that divide with like things like Instagram and Facebook. You've got a certain clientele, let's say you use Facebook as opposed to Instagram yeah and TikTok and things like that. they They're all different people feeding into that one platform and it's how you engage with them.
Speaker: And I think that's um yeah that's something we really strive for. is the um We have a Facebook page as Plant Laventown Council. Before that we were youth representatives, we didn't really have a way to to engage with the younger generation. um And that's a demographic we also want to look for, for the um the driver scheme.
Speaker: Because, you know, it's good for older people who have retired to help out ah old other elderly people in the community. But also young people who might be um need something to do in the summer or got a lot of time in their hands after uni or something.
Speaker: um So, yeah, so Instagram was something we really wanted to target. So we've set up our own Instagram account now. We're Blenarthen Youth, where we share um all the all we've been planning, all the events we've done.
Speaker: um yeah and updates about Blunt-Albertown Council and that's really been successful we think. And what I found really interesting is how many people actually view the profile because I gave an update to Full Council roughly about a month and a half ago, two months ish. saying that the total view account on the profile was 164 profile view so that's 164 different accounts viewing the Instagram account. And then by the time the next council meeting happened, well probably about four weeks after, that had shot up to over a thousand. And we were like,
Speaker: Whoa, where's all them people come from? and What we found is that is impacted by Instagram reels, which they are they've just took off. We can't, like when you put a post up, we're averaging about we are between 100 and 200 views per the just the post it's on. But you put a reel up, that's getting 100 views within a day.
Speaker: And it's just building from there. So we've really tried to adapt. how we communicate as a council with the Reels. So we're recently we've um filmed Councillor Bevan doing a piece of camera about the youth representatives and what we do. We're open to post that soon. um At different events we do, like the um Family Quiz Night, we've gone round and filmed and adapted it into a Reel to post. So it's just looking at what's successful and pushing for that, because obviously we want to get the most engagement.
Speaker: Yeah, it's all about engagement. Because, I mean, it's and it's, again, it's attention, it's getting people to know about the things you're doing, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, so any other projects or anything that you'd like to mention?
Speaker: and We did the a VJ Day event a couple of months back, and that was really good, because what we did, we sat, pretty much, in a stall handing out jam scones, things like that, just just different things. But it was a really good way to en interact with the community, and from that we learned, okay,
Speaker: How do we adapt that then to get people attending that event to follow our Instagram account to keep on track with our... I think we ended up saying, you can have a scone, but only if you follow the Instagram. I think that was it. We had a QR code there, didn't we? Yeah. And what we did then, like Dan just said, we printed out a QR code and that was a good way to um adapt then, or sorry, to gain people coming into the account.
Speaker: Hey, it's a nice way getting emails and stuff, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and But there's a deeper thing that you you might be trading scones for followers, but you're also creating connections with the community. Exactly, yeah. Exactly. It's about being there, being in being in the town, you know, yeah engaging with people. Yeah.
Speaker: just being active in your community. And it's putting a face to the name, isn't it? Rather than just hiding behind a social media account, it's putting that face, getting out there, engaging with local people. it It builds your reputation, doesn't it it? It makes people, it makes you visible.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's very easy to become invisible. So,
Speaker: so um With all this work and activity in the community, can you see a difference that it's making or has it made? I think so. I think, like I just said about the like ah Instagram engagement, you can see how many people taking to Instagram now are starting to follow because it's started off quite slow. And now you can see it really starting to pick up, like I just said, it's grown from 100 profile views, so over a thousand. So you can see that and you can also just feel it in the events like the family quiz night you did. You could see how engaged people were. how And like um like we said, people were saying to us like, okay, when's the next one? Like, well, we've only just finished this one. Hold on a minute. But no, it's really nice to see. And like, if we're gonna, like we, um sorry, if we,
Speaker: listen to them which we plan on doing we are going to have future events and if it's a success why not why not do them why stop doing it if it's a success so you can see that it is benefiting the community in that way and with the cost of living crisis you know uh you paid the entry free but in now you get a quiz you get free pizza you get you've got free chips you know yeah you've got the prizes so it's different things like that and a nice time with people in the community exactly yeah yeah ah Well, i honestly, as well, we didn't expect such a good turnout as well. That was um quite surprising. It was our first event. We didn't think we'd have such a success as we did, but were really grateful that um the community was as great as they were. um they they you know They showed up, they engaged, everyone had a really great time, um and they were begging for more then at the end. so yeah
Speaker: And that leads very nicely to the next question of what's next. Hopefully more quiz nights. Well, we're hoping for maybe every quarter yeah um would be a good step. um But hopefully more diverse things in the future. This has been a good stepping stone now. um We know we can execute an event.
Speaker: We know how to plan it. um We have... a sort of budget that we can go off of to make sure that you know we make ah an event that's ah capable, we're able to do it, but um that's also cheap and affordable for the town, because that's what we also thought as well. yeah We wanted to make sure that everybody can be involved, so I think it was a fiver for every team, up to eight people, so You know, and that includes the pizza as well. So that's, um yeah, that's something that we want to do for the next event as well, I think. And I think with the election year coming up next year as well, it's...
Speaker: Obviously we've got a fantastic team of councillors, but potentially looking at who could come in, like younger people like ourselves who could come in, give that voice of the young people, but actually in a voting capacity. and So yeah, we're looking at doing like workshops and things like that with young people and just just trying to make the council visible to make sure people know that we're here and running little events like that, even though they might not bang, make a difference like that. It's that subtle sort of...
Speaker: dropping it in suddenly sort of thing that you know the council is available to people coming up to an election year this is a fantastic time for young people to get involved and it's also the scale and like area that a community and town council can be affected yeah could make a tangible difference isn't it and like i said you know like i said we've got a fantastic team of councillors and but sometimes not having that youth aspect in a voting capacity. like i I gave a speech before and I said that the decisions that are being made about our future, the young people's future, aren't being made by those who are going to have to live it. So it's about it's about things like that and how do young people get involved in that process?
Speaker: Yeah, it's really important to me especially to be involved in um a democratic sort of environment that, you know, my say matters. and We can't vote, but we can influence um people um on the council.
Speaker: And that's, it's really important ah to both of us that we can be involved and be in the decision making because it means that it's more fair for everybody because young people are often considered they've sort of pushed to back a little bit.
Speaker: um But yeah, it's our goal then to bring them forward and bring them in to the core of um the core of the council and the core of Plan Avan. i just I just hope that us two being here now, like we're the only ones in Wales, we're the first ever appointed in Wales. So I hope that this scheme does spread out across Wales. I hope that more people get involved. I think it's just such a fantastic opportunity to be able to get involved. in I can't emphasize that enough. So I'm hoping that this scheme Youth Representative spreads out
Speaker: across world, across the entire country if we can, but, you know, it's stepping stones. Do you know what i mean? so hope we can get the ball rolling. Yeah, definitely. Other people should have the chance to to to talk in ah the same capacity as this. um Yeah, ah I hope that we can provide sort of, um yeah, they stuck get get the ball rolling, really, for other the young people to get involved. um might Everybody to get involved. Yeah. Everybody should...
Speaker: be invested in their town, be invested in um definitely you know the local community. um I think it's important that um you know it's great that we've been given the opportunity to let that happen.
Speaker: Definitely. And on that note, from the first youth representatives for a community or town council in Wales, thank you very much for talking us. problem, thank you. Thank for coming to talk to us.
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