From gang fights via military discipline to paper lace - youth groups go on voyage of discovery

East Devon District Council's Community Development workers have taken their two youth groups on a series of horizon broadening day trips.

The first was a visit by 18 young people to a drama workshop in a studio at the University of Exeter. Six students and an experienced theatre facilitator helped the young people develop a piece of theatre that was performed to an audience at the end of the day.

The themes of the work were gang fighting and knife crime. The young people, who are from some of the most impoverished parts of East Devon, are familiar with these and that came across in the piece.

The group developed scenery using simple but effective techniques, and used sound, light and costumes to develop a moving piece of theatre. Intensive support from the students meant the work progressed rapidly with all the young people engaged and listened to. The comments afterwards revealed that they enjoyed the day far more than they’d expected to, and some people said how proud they were at seeing what they were capable of.

Next came a visit by a group of 28 youngsters to the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone. They were quickly brought into order by the Marines, marching in three even lines around the camp! After a talk on life as a Marine, they had a go at climbing, laser quest, team challenges and tug of war. Lunch provided a real taste of Marine life. It was a humorously delivered talk on nutrition, followed by boil-in-the-bag rations eaten outdoors. Several of the group felt they wanted to sign-up to the Marines by the end of the day.

The next visit involved the gentler pursuit of lace-making. A group tried their hand at making intricate lace patterns out of paper at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery. The shapes varied from love-hearts to footballs and lace doilies, all of which were turned into brooches, badges and hair clips by the end of the day.

Rounding off the latest series of outings was a trip to the River Dart Country Park. The group all attempted the high wires, with more than one overcoming a fear of heights to zip line across a river and attempt to swing through the trees on monkey bars. Water zorbing was another exciting part of the day, as was capsizing off a kayak!

The young people were happily exhausted by the end of the week, and one girl said it was the ‘best week of her life’.