Vocational and Youth Committee

Chairman Wilf Ellis

Under its Chairman Wilf Ellis, the committee have decided that they will concentrate on some projects which are tried and tested together with some new ventures. All are selected to provide the maximum opportunities for the young people of Windermere to become involved in projects which will enhance their experiences of life outside school.

Rotary has a full palette of Youth projects and it is not possible for the club to become involved in all of them. This year we will put the following ones in place:

 

Youth Speaks - There are two classes of age groups - 11 to 14 and 15 to 17. In each class three participants are required. A chairman, a speaker and another to give a Vote of Thanks. We shall be approaching our local schools to encourage them to provide teams to enter this competition which culminates in a National Final.

Young Writer - another competition which requires the entrant aged 11 to 12 to present a written piece on a given subject. This is a District competition with good prizes.

 

RYLA - the Rotary Youth Leadership Award for pupils in their last school year. This is a residential course held at Castle Head Field Centre each year. It lasts a week and is professionally led with Rotarians participating too. At the end of the week which involves both indoor and outdoor sessions including an overnight hike, each pupil receives an Award. This verifies that they have reached the standards of the course and that they have enjoyed every minute of it!

Technology Tournament - A schools competition held throughout our District to find the winners from teams of youngsters [two age classes] who can design, build and demonstrate it working, a project made from materials and information supplied on the day. Most schools around South Lakeland join in and send some excellent teams.
This year the event was held on March 7th and our club was asked to organise it. Chairman Wilf put all the loogistics in place and President Elect Rob McGraw was the Master of Ceremonies for the day. The Hydro Hotel laid on excellent facilities and 120 atudents fromSouth Lakeland secondary schools took part. Even the teachers were able to show their inventive skills and were not fazed by the challenge!

The exercise was to build a bridge which could carry a load of 1kg and for the older students, the bridge had to move as a swing or drawbridge. The day saw many different designs and great inventiveness from the teams who only had cardboard, drinking straws and thread as materials to work with.
The winners were Cartmel Priory A, Kirkbie Kendal B and Kirkbie Kendal A respectively.

The committee will also provide the opportunity for two disabled people from the Windermere community to join one of the two tall sailing ships from the Jubilee Sailing Trust. They will sail from Oban to Liverpool or Liverpool to Oban and have the chance to experience all the aspescts of sailing the ship personally.

All of these projects require funding and many other committee's efforts during the year will provide these funds. The Vocational committee has also raised funds through its Annual Trolley Dash. This was held, with thanks to Booth's at their store in Windermere.

Club members will also take part in trips to acquaint themselves with the vocations of people in and around Windermere during the year.