Last week was National Youth Work Week, The national youth agency celebrate this each year and it provides an opportunity for youth organisations, youth workers and young people to celebrate their achievements and the impact of their work. The theme this year was ‘Have Your Voice Heard’ this was to encourage young people to speak out about issues they feel were important- Our young people decided they wanted to focus the week on Bonfire night and fire safety and encouraged each other to ‘stay safe on bonfire night’

Guy Fawkes Masks and Explosive Sweets

During the week the young people learnt all about Guy Fawkes and why we celebrate Bonfire Night. On Monday night they made Guy Fawkes Masks, they enjoyed finding out about him and what he did and what he looked like and recreated the famous mask, they also made sweets to look like dynamite- complete with gunpowder (popping candy)- take a look:

Penny for the Guy

On Tuesday night we set to work to make our very own ‘Guy’ we bought some old clothes from a charity shop and the young people enjoyed sewing them together and stuffing it full of old newspaper. They got very creative when it came to making his head and worked really well as a team- I’m sure you will agree that the end result was fantastic! Oh yeah the the young people named him GEOFF!

Firework Safety,Hotdogs and Marshmallows

We had our own ‘fake’ bonfire night on Wednesday 4th as a lot of our young people were going out with their families on the 5th. We began the evening by showing the young people safety films from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue that show the dangers of messing around with fire and fireworks. One particular film about a 16 year old lad called Ryan really hit home- this sparked lots of interaction and discussions between our young people and had a great impact on how they were choosing to spend bonfire night with a lot of our young people opting to go to an organised display rather than risking their lives and messing around with fireworks! You can watch the film here:

Once we had watched the films and highlighted the dangers we have some controlled, supervised fun- the young people made and enjoyed hotdogs inside then we headed outside where we set up our small firepit and the young people gathered around to toast marshmallows. The young people had a great night and we advised them that Bonfire night is great fun as long as you stay safe…….