As summer moves to autumn, we would like to first praise local staff, students and parents for great results achieved this year in GCSEs and A-levels.

It was great to see the pass rate rise for our local schools and we wish the students the best of luck as they progress to sixth form, university or the world of work!

In addition to the great achievements of our youth in the educational sense, it was also superb to see a good community spirit in Beccles for the Duck Race and the Carnival – the community ethos we have in this town is tremendously strong and it is great that youth are a major part of that spirit.

The Beccles Skatepark group is a good example of contributing to that spirit and it is great that they have progressed to the next round in their funding application – good luck in the next round; our fingers are crossed!

In terms of progress in our projects, the main thing to report is that we have applied for some funding for our youth magazine and we will continue to apply for funding so that the magazine will go to all schools next year. This is so important because it is vital that young people know about the fantastic youth activities and facilities in the town and hopefully presenting this information in an accessible and free magazine will do the job of raising awareness of youth provision in Beccles. We hope the applications will be successful and we will begin collecting and compiling information from local youth organisations in the next few months. On youth engagement, we are looking forward to Parliament Week in November which will raise awareness of British politics and we hope it will encourage young people to keep an eye on how things work at the local, national and international level.

The last thing to say is that we are continuing to work hard to improve Beccles for youth and as always any queries or ideas you have and wish to raise, please feel free to contact us!

Sam Kenward, Andrea Downes and Caroline Topping

Youth Champions 2017/18