Wombourne Youth Action Team are yet again pushing back the boundries!

Currently 12 members of WYAT are taking part in a joint venture between Wombourne Community and Learning Partnership and Staffordshire Fire Service, giving the young people of Wombourne an insight into the fire service and also teaching them about fire safety issues!

The course lasts 12 weeks and will hopefully be open to all the Young People of Wombourne later this year!

For Further information please don’t hesitate to contact us using the contact page on our website.

On the 23^rd to 25^th of November we went to the Dudmaston Residential dorms just 5 minutes from Bridgnorth. We arrived on the Friday night at 7.30 pm. As soon as we got there sing star was out and Nick was already trying to beat Jay but never won.

On the Saturday after an early wake up call we started the day with team building exercises led by Tony and Mel where we learnt each others name. We all joined in on all of the activities even when some of them were out of our comfort zone. Each activity both in the morning and afternoon needed a team leader which we all had a go at, sometimes we were good at this but others we weren’t. During the Saturday morning we were split into two groups as there were two activities to be done. The first was like a human minesweeper game as we had to get from one side of the squares to the other and each time we landed on a mine we had to move back to the beginning the same way we came, after many attempts both teams achieved it. The second activity was to come in to a marked out shape with squares with numbers on. Our activity was to tread on all of the squares in number order (1-30). Both teams were five seconds off the time limit which was 1 minute.

After Lunch we had to put blind folds on, the aim of this game was to get 6 of the same shape and the same colour, as one of our senses were taken away this proved very difficult but after 45 minutes of arguing we finally finished.

Once our activities had finished we started arranging the disco and talking about W.Y.A.T. taking over the youth club. A lot of positive comments came from our discussion.

On the Sunday, after another rude awakening we had another member join our group – this was Frank who was the dog of one of the instructors. Again we had more activities, we walked over 3 miles and completed several activities on the walk these included working as a team and other activities where we split into more than one team.

Overall the weekend went well and we had some good points that we need to improve on and some that we were excellent on. A big thank you to Mel, Tony and Frank who helped us achieve the activities and made the weekend enjoyable for all of us.

By Chris Smith

Last Saturday, Wombourne Youth Action Team (WYAT) held its second under 18’s disco, at the Wombourne Youth Centre. The Halloween themed disco was attended by about 40 young people aged between 12 and 18. The aim of the disco was to provide entertainment for young people in the village. The event was funded by a grant received by the group earlier this year from the V Project. A non-alcoholic bar was provided by Staffordshire Trading Standards, who also spoke to those in attendance about alcohol related issues. There was also an inflatable pole joust and other activities available.

PCSO Lorraine commented “the Disco has been well organised by the WYAT. It is a thing that should happen more often for Wombourne’s young people”. The next event organised by the group will be a Christmas Disco on 8th December. Tickets will be on sale very shortly around the village. For more information, visit www.wyat.co.uk

After attending a successful residential in the Center Parcs Whinfell Forest resort, two of our members have been asked to sit on the South Staffordshire District Youth Council (SSDYC)!

The residential was held last weekend and was a roaring success! After an exhausting 2 days at Alton Towers, James Markey and Sam Farnath showed their dedication to the group by travelling the 158 mile journey to the lake district.

Both were thrown in at the deep end discussing issues that the Council is concerned with. They also helped to discuss several funding applications made to the youth bank, write the annual newsletter and even had time left over to discuss upcoming events around the district! Even though very tired, Sam and James both displayed the excellent standards that I have come to expect from the members of Wyat. Hopefully they will both be as valuable to the DYC as they are to WYAT!

They were rewarded by an excellent 2 night stay at Center Parcs in the executive accommodation, including nightly disco’s and cabaret acts, access to the water-park, BBQ, and a meal at the “Bella Italia Restaurant”, Not bad considering!

Hopefully we will have more news about further activities within the DYC at a later date!

Gaz Darby - Chairman

Normally spending time at Alton Towers means rides galore.

But last Thursday and Friday saw five of our members join six members of the Kinver Youth Forum for a sexual health residential!

After spending a day at Alton Towers the fun began thanks to Sexual Health worker Donna Finer, our members learned about issues relating to relationships and sexual health so that they may become peer educators and help to educate their friends to the dangers and safety issues.

Despite being a rather “Taboo” subject, everybody was very mature about the whole thing and even saw the funny side of things!

We are pleased to announce two upcoming Discos. On Saturday 10th November we will be holding a Halloween Disco, from 7.30 to 11 at the Community Centre in Wombourne. Tickets will be on sale shortly at Ounsdale High School and from members. We are also organising a Christmas Disco later in the year, more information to follow closer to the time.