April 2004
Individual fundraising successes
- Mel Biffin, school governor, spurred young fundraisers into action and collected £198 from a dress down day and listening day at her children's school.
- Jim Jolly and members of the 100% club kindly donated £745.
- Steve Old raised £90 from holding a home made cake sale, stocking filler sale and various raffles.
- St Andrews Church , Biggleswade, donated £3,306.14 from the proceeds of their Country Fayre.
- The BT Charity Programme organised a sponsored walk up the BT Tower and this has so far raised £6,867.05 - our thanks to all the employees who took part. A special thank you to Don Taylor and colleagues who raised an amazing £1,610.84 from the walk, a sponsored diet, and by placing swear boxes around the office. This amount includes £500 donated by manager, Pete Easy.
- £7,631 in gifts and donations to ChildLine was raised through the festive efforts of BT's Broadband Team in the run up to Christmas. A big thank you to Claire Gribbon and Pamela Brown, who organised the fundraising drive. The BT Charity Programme will now raffle and auction the gifts. One of the first gifts to be auctioned was two tickets to see Manchester United v Middlesbrough. Pete Flynn out bid fellow employees and donated £105 to watch the game with his son.
- Chris Ruffe requested 180 cardboard coin cutouts for his Cubs and Scouts. (The BT Charity Programme can send more ChildLine coin cutouts to employees involved with community groups on request.)
- Marilyn Ditzle raised £294 after she persuaded the ‘Book People’ to donate a percentage of their profits from a sale in BT Centre. Staff in the company secretary's office collected £90.
- The BT Charity Programme organised an employee Valentines Lunch at the BT Tower and raised over £5,000 from ticket sales. This was followed by a Mother's Day event, which raised a further £5,000.
- Richard Ward completed the official Flora half marathon on the 7th March, and has over £150 pledged for ChildLine.
- The Charity team have recently held three ‘sales’ in BT buildings selling brand new BT promote items. The old logo has not deterred sales, and so far over £700 has been raised. More sales are planned…
Team Building Activities for ChildLine
The BT Charity Programme have successfully organised team building ‘Away Days’ which raise money for ChildLine at the same time. A range of activities and entertainment can be organised including:
- A Motorised Treasure Hunt through the New Forest, Hampshire – all proceeds going to ChildLine
- Traditional Sports Days organised by Team Elite, who donate 10% of every BT booking to ChildLine
- Entertainment booked through High Performance (UK) Ltd, who donate 10% of every BT booking to ChildLine.
For more information contact Karen Spreadbury
Voting age sticks at 18
The Electoral Commission has decided not to reduce the voting age to 16 this month. It has however recommended reducing the age limit for prospective MPs from 21 to 18.
The UK Youth Parliament was one of the groups that was disappointed in the decision and said “Many MYPs from across the UK have been active in campaigning on this issue, and have been particularly energetic in making their point in the media. They feel bitterly let down by the announcement”.
Sam Younger, Commission chairman said that even among young people there was not an obvious majority in favour of lowering the voting age to 16. The independent body said that in five to seven years the voting age should be reviewed again.
New Directorate to support young people
The Children and Young People's Unit (CYPU) has been replaced by the Supporting Children and Young People Group, part of the Children, Young People and Families Directorate at the Department for Education and Skills.
The Group is being led by Anne Weinstock, and includes Connexions, the Teenage Pregnancy Unit and the Children's Fund, which aims to tackle child poverty and exclusion.
National Youth Agency launches new Hear by Right standards
The NYA has launched a new version of the Hear by Right standards for involving young people in decision making.
The revised version enables local authorities and other bodies to assess and improve the way they engage with young people. It has been rewritten to make it more user friendly, and includes a planning tool on CD-Rom.
Youth Voting Network publishes democracy report
The Electoral Commission has published a report on ways to engage young Britons in the political process.
‘A young person's agenda for democracy – one year on’ presents the findings and recommendations of the Youth Voting Network's 2003 monitoring programme, which focused on attempts by politicians, government, The Electoral Commission and the media to reconnect young people with politics.
The recommendations aim to improve links between young people and politics. Recommendations to politicians include: visits to schools and youth groups, and giving young people the opportunity to speak to MPs at local events planned and run by young people.
The Youth Voting Network comprises a large number of UK organisations working in the field of democracy and participation, particularly among young people.
The report is available online
Sharing the Impact of Hear by Right
The NYA is creating a website to share stories about the impact of Hear by Right, a standards framework for organisations to assess and improve practice and policy on the active involvement of children and young people. Organisations in the statutory and voluntary sectors are invited to send in completed or in-progress plans, case-studies, and reflections on the process of applying Hear by Right. For more information email Tim Davies