THIS POST IS FROM ONE OF OUR FABULOUS YOUTH LEADERS, SOPHIE.
Breakfast and Bowling: Where It All Began.
When I first applied to be a Stonewall Youth Volunteer Leader I had a limited understanding of what it might involve. After being told I was accepted I nervously imagined what would be expected of me, whether I would be able to really help the volunteers with their campaigns, whether the staff at Stonewall would be happy with my contributions. As it happened however I was not the only person uncertain about how the role would evolve, in fact I knew as much as anyone else, because I had been accepted for a brand new position. Myself and Matt, the one other Youth Leader, were pioneers in the field; the first ever people to take the helm as campaign leaders, motivators and Stonewall Guinea pigs.
So, intrepidly we set out on our daunting mission to help forge some politically groundbreaking, homophobia shattering, life changing campaigns; and, naturally, we began with breakfast. Our introduction to the role started on an early morning in February with Volunteer Training, a weekend where all the young volunteers, a handful of Stonewall staff and the two fresh-faced new Youth Leaders gathered to eat croissants and fruit, drink coffee and perform some hilarious attempts at ten-pin bowling. Of course it wasn’t all culinary delights and embarrassing sporting ability; for the most part the weekend involved learning about the Education For All initiative, getting to know Stonewall’s work, sharing campaign ideas and making friends.
The group was small enough for everyone to speak to each other at least once but big enough so that a wide variety of ideas and experiences could be shared. When we began throwing around some ideas for campaigns I was astounded at the breadth of creativity and confidence exhibited by the group. Every idea was different in some way, personal to the volunteers’ individual experience at school, college and in their local towns. Some of the volunteers knew exactly what they wanted to do already, some had vague hopes, a few had already been campaigning at their school and others had barely even thought about it, overall it was the perfect way to breed strong campaign plans: a diverse, welcoming, non-judgemental environment where every idea counts.
For me the Volunteer Training weekend was not only the start of my work as a Youth Leader it was also a pivotal chance to get to know the volunteers who I would be supporting. The Youth Volunteering programme attracts young people from all over the country; therefore I knew that for the most part I would be speaking to the volunteers by phone and email. It was crucial to me that I got a chance to put faces to the voices, and feel as though I knew the young people and their campaigns. After a full weekend of me coming very close to utter bowling failure, exposing my caffeine addiction, getting over excited about cutting and pasting for posters and being obscenely competitive in every team game, I left knowing without doubt that I would look forward to catching up with the volunteers every week, seeing their campaigns materialise from the concrete we had set over those two days.
Since then my relationship with the volunteers has gone from strength to strength. Even without meeting up in person, our regular contact via email and phone has ensured I am kept up to date with their plans. At every stage I have witnessed campaigns blossom, hit seemingly insurmountable stumbling blocks, gain momentum, achieve wide recognition, and thus become instrumental in real social change. In short I have been privileged enough to co-pilot some incredible ideas from the early stages into impressive realisation, and apart from the small aspect of my inability to bowl, I will always look upon the Volunteer Training weekend as where this all began.
Breakfast and Bowling: Where It All Began.
When I first applied to be a Stonewall Youth Volunteer Leader I had a limited understanding of what it might involve. After being told I was accepted I nervously imagined what would be expected of me, whether I would be able to really help the volunteers with their campaigns, whether the staff at Stonewall would be happy with my contributions. As it happened however I was not the only person uncertain about how the role would evolve, in fact I knew as much as anyone else, because I had been accepted for a brand new position. Myself and Matt, the one other Youth Leader, were pioneers in the field; the first ever people to take the helm as campaign leaders, motivators and Stonewall Guinea pigs.
So, intrepidly we set out on our daunting mission to help forge some politically groundbreaking, homophobia shattering, life changing campaigns; and, naturally, we began with breakfast. Our introduction to the role started on an early morning in February with Volunteer Training, a weekend where all the young volunteers, a handful of Stonewall staff and the two fresh-faced new Youth Leaders gathered to eat croissants and fruit, drink coffee and perform some hilarious attempts at ten-pin bowling. Of course it wasn’t all culinary delights and embarrassing sporting ability; for the most part the weekend involved learning about the Education For All initiative, getting to know Stonewall’s work, sharing campaign ideas and making friends.
The group was small enough for everyone to speak to each other at least once but big enough so that a wide variety of ideas and experiences could be shared. When we began throwing around some ideas for campaigns I was astounded at the breadth of creativity and confidence exhibited by the group. Every idea was different in some way, personal to the volunteers’ individual experience at school, college and in their local towns. Some of the volunteers knew exactly what they wanted to do already, some had vague hopes, a few had already been campaigning at their school and others had barely even thought about it, overall it was the perfect way to breed strong campaign plans: a diverse, welcoming, non-judgemental environment where every idea counts.
For me the Volunteer Training weekend was not only the start of my work as a Youth Leader it was also a pivotal chance to get to know the volunteers who I would be supporting. The Youth Volunteering programme attracts young people from all over the country; therefore I knew that for the most part I would be speaking to the volunteers by phone and email. It was crucial to me that I got a chance to put faces to the voices, and feel as though I knew the young people and their campaigns. After a full weekend of me coming very close to utter bowling failure, exposing my caffeine addiction, getting over excited about cutting and pasting for posters and being obscenely competitive in every team game, I left knowing without doubt that I would look forward to catching up with the volunteers every week, seeing their campaigns materialise from the concrete we had set over those two days.
Since then my relationship with the volunteers has gone from strength to strength. Even without meeting up in person, our regular contact via email and phone has ensured I am kept up to date with their plans. At every stage I have witnessed campaigns blossom, hit seemingly insurmountable stumbling blocks, gain momentum, achieve wide recognition, and thus become instrumental in real social change. In short I have been privileged enough to co-pilot some incredible ideas from the early stages into impressive realisation, and apart from the small aspect of my inability to bowl, I will always look upon the Volunteer Training weekend as where this all began.
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