The Holiday Inn, in Seaton Burn played host to this years young apprentice event organised by the Northumberland Youth Service. The weekend began on Friday 26th February at 5pm and three groups from Cramlington, Seaton Valley and our group from Blyth met up to begin what shaped out to be a fantastic few days.

FRIDAY 26th FEBRUARY

The weekend started with the groups being shown to their rooms, our young people were very impressed that they had a double bed each to chill out in and each room came with it’s own flat screen TV! After everyone had settled in, it was time to play some Ice breaking games so the three groups involved could get to know eachother- each young person had to swap around and find out two interesting facts about another young person in the group that they didn’t know. The young people were a bit shy at first but took it in their stride.

After the team games the young people enjoyed the first of many delicious meals in the Holiday Inn restaurant, the food was great and the staff really looked after the groups.

After tea everyone met in the ‘boardroom’ and were audience to a presentation given by Lesley Strickland who is one of the organisers of the Tall Ships Regatta, the young people were told all about what is happening during the event taking place in Blyth this summer and were told all about the different types of ships and how the community can get involved. The young people were told to pay attention and to take lots of notes as these would be needed throughout the weekend.

After the presentation the young people were given the brief for the weekend. Each group had to give themselves a team name and then come up with a product that could be sold at the Tall Ships event- the product had to be made of paper and had to include the youth service logo somewhere. The young people then had to make a presentation to deliver to the panel on Sunday which had to include their idea, how they had made the decision, how much the item would cost and how much profit would be made. After the brief had been given each group were given their own private room to work in for the remainder of the weekend and they set to work on their projects……..

SATURDAY 27th FEBRUARY

The young people were up bright and early on Saturday morning ready to get started with their projects, but of course this was after everyone devoured an amazing breakfast!

The day began with a ‘challenge’ these challenges became a bit of theme throughout the weekend and were done in the style of ‘I’m a celebrity’ this challenge was the ‘jelly bean race’ each team had to line up and compete against eachother to get jelly beans from one mug to another one across the room using chopsticks! The first team to get 8 jelly beans moved won and gained priority for the next task! Cramlington won this challenge but all the teams had such a laugh taking part.

After the challenge, all teams retired to their team rooms to continue with their projects. Our group came in up with the idea of selling ‘Maritime Mixups’ this idea came about after the young people decided that people attending the event would need an affordable refreshment that doubled up as a tour guide. The Maritime Mixup was a bag with a map printed on the back, each bag came with a ‘luggage label’ attached to the handle that had a key on it that corresponded with the map so visitors could find their way around and also a ‘what’s on’ guide for the weekend. Each bag would contain a bottle of water and a sweetie cone. The young people then spent quite a bit of time on Saturday working out how much these items would cost to produce- this took a lot of patience and research. The group worked well as a team to delegate tasks. Georgia and Christina researched the cost of the paper bags, sweets and printing, Keighleigh took control of what should be included in the tour guide and Paul and Eddie got to work on making our own Tall Ship to use in the presentation.

The young people had a break from the projects to take part in another ‘challenge’ this time each group had to decorate a cake in a ‘Tall Ship’ theme. There was a table of ingredients set out and each group had to take it in turns to choose their ingredients- Cramlington chose first as they won the last challenge, each team then had 15 minutes to create their masterpiece- Workers were very impressed with our group’s creation. All groups won this challenge as all the cakes were so good it was impossible to choose just one winner!

The young people then continued with their projects late into the day. Our team worked very well getting their prototype ready to present and created a powerpoint presentation to go along with it, the tall ship the lads were making was beginning to look amazing and they worked late into the night perfecting it and and named it ‘The Magpie’

At 9:30pm it was decided the teams had done enough hard work for one day and deserved a bit of entertainment! The groups decided to put on their own ‘Lip Sync Battle’ this was hilarious and such good fun, Sarah even got roped in to represent team Blyth- see her and and Georgia in Action below!

After all the singing and dancing it was time for the final ‘Challenge’ of the day and this one was a proper ‘Bushtucker Trial’ complete with bug eating! Each person from each group had to endure eating a ‘tasty treat’ these ranged from Cookies and Jelly Beans to Crickets and Meal Worms!!!! Check out Paul and Georgia tucking into Curried Cricket! Very Brave!

SUNDAY 28th FEBRUARY

Sunday began with another early start with all groups eager to make all the finishing touches to their presentation. Our group finished off making their prototype and spent time practising their presentation. at 11:30am all groups met in the boardroom and were greeted by the panel made up of Val, Emma, Kevin (the minion, complete with Fart Gun) and The Apprentice’s very own Lord Alan Sugar!

Each group then took it in turns to present to the panel, our group were second to present and were extremely nervous but did a fabulous job- the panel asked lots of questions about the product and were very impressed with the time and effort that had gone into the Tall Ship. The other two teams presented their ideas which were both very good. Cramlington came up with the idea of a ‘pirate passport’ and made their presentation dressed as Pirates, The Seaton Valley group had made an activity book to promote sea safety and even included a song in their presentation, this was very impressive.

The teams were then asked to step out of the boardroom whilst the Panel decided on the winner……

RESULTS……

The judges were very impressed with all three product ideas and found it very difficult to choose an overall winner.

In third place was the Blyth group (us)- the judges really liked the idea of our product and didn’t want all of the planning to go to waste so have agreed to give the young people a pot of funding so they can make their product and sell the ‘Maritime Mixups’ from Silx during the Tall Ships Event, also they were so impressed with the Tall Ship this is going to be put onto a plinth and given a plaque and be presented during the event.

Next was the big surprise of the weekend….

Cramlington and Seaton Valley came joint first place as the judges couldn’t choose between the two similar ideas, so they want both groups to work together to make one product that will double up as a Pirate Passport/Activity Guide, watch this space as these will be put into production and sold during the Tall Ships Weekend.

The young people had a great time and although they didn’t win they learnt a lot of new skills and definitely grew in confidence throughout the weekend and workers couldn’t be prouder of them all, little entrepreneurs in the making!