Youth Services Report 2021-2022

At the start of the year it was unclear what sort of activities would be possible over the year with Covid-19 restrictions still in place. Schools suffered problems with staff and pupil absences during the winter, though the situation has eased a little through the spring.

The aim was to get at 10 schools involved in our activities over the year and in the end we managed to get 8 involved in our Youth Competitions.

ROTARY YOUTH COMPETITION SUMMARY

·         Young Writer – A good response from a number of schools with some excellent work presented. Thanks to Grace Strachan, Aileen North and May King for carrying out marking duties on over 90 entries. Two strong pieces of work went to the District final, Jospeh Jones (Culross) and Cameron Craig(Carnock) but neither were successful. Winners and Runners-Up read out their work at the Youth Celebration, with Cameron offering a particularly impressive piece of public speaking.

·         Young Photographer – Supported by a number of schools, in particular Carnock and St Serf’s. Our Junior winner Lottie Cook was marked Commended in the District Competition. Thanks to Ewan Archibald for final judging.

·         Young Artist – Superb response from a number of schools with a total entry of 180. Club Junior winner Sophia Rose Hanlin (Limekilns) was mistakenly included in the Intermediate category by District, but still managed a Commended (effectively third place). Could be interesting next year as she’s still eligible for the Junior Competition… Thanks to Rotary members for helping with the judging.

·         Young Film Maker - Well supported by Carnock Primary School, though sadly no District Competition. Thanks to Carolyn Scott for judging this competition.

·         Young Environmentalist – Supported by Carnock P6/7 who showed plenty of enthusiasm and we hope this will encourage others to get involved.

·         Technology Challenge – Access to schools has been very difficult and competition now unlikely to take place.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS QUIZ

With access into schools impossible it was decided not to hold the Quiz this year.

RYLA CANDIDATE

Niav Anderson from Crossford applied for RYLA via the District website. Aileen and myself had a chat to Niav and found her to be an excellent candidate, after which we secured her a place on the Camp which takes places in first week of July this year. We looking forward to hearing Niav’s account of her experiences upon return.

YOUTH CELEBRATION EVENING

The year ended with an excellent Youth Celebration Evening, well supported by parents, pupils and staff. Thanks go to the club members who turned out in good numbers to support the event and make visitors welcome.

COMMITTEE

Thanks for the support and assistance from the Youth Committee through the year as we have come out of lockdown, namely Aileen North, Grace Strachan and Alan Farquharson. Thanks also to Ewan Archibald who provided assistance ‘on the quiet’ after leaving regular club Membership.

Robert North (Youth Services Convenor)