Horley Young People Awarded by Town Mayor
On Wednesday 10th January, The Mayor of Horley Town Councillor Mike George visited the Horley Young People Centre to award a special group of young people certificates for their contribution to the Horley Christmas Fair. The group consisting of members that recently joined a new youth development project called YOLO Youth. The programme started mid-September 2017 and aims to provide real world opportunities for young people to engage and experience different aspects of video and media production. On the 2nd December YOLO Youth had the opportunity to put their new developed skills into action during Horley’s annual Christmas Fair. From project planning to location scouting, media management and cinematography the youth had their work cut out filming the vast array of stalls, feature items and activities the Fair had to offer. Alongside the filming the young people also organised the Youth Centre Cafe, fund raising stalls, Santa’s Grotto and DJ booth. Six hours later the Christmas lights were turned on in the finale of the event where the whole town came together in celebration of the festive season. In total, almost 12 hours of footage was edited down into a 2 minute video to promote next years Fare.
The mayor was delighted with the effort and contribution of the youth and in front of the group of 40 young people and parents he openly requested the newly developed skills of the group to be utilised in filming Horley’s major community celebrations this year, the St Georges Day parade and Horley Carnival. James Measures who leads the YOLO Project said, “the desire was always to provide young people with training that could culminate in real world applications.” By successfully filming a major event the young people have had their efforts recognised and rewarded on a public level which is a fantastic testimony to the success of the program and a bright hope for the future of the project. It is a huge honour to have had the Mayor come and present the YOLO participants with certificates in recognition of their effort. Additionally the future project participation requested by The Mayor is testament to the hard work everyone put into the activities of the day and what is possible.
