Guest Blog: Youth Led Social Event Brings Together Hertfordshire and Middlesex JLGB  

Introducing... Devon Shoob

Devon is 17 years old and the Youth Representative for Hertfordshire. She first joined JLGB 5 years ago and has been closely involved ever since. Here, in our first ever guest blog, she describes her most recent initiative - a social event that organised and lead by Devon and other Youth Representatives.  

Following a really successful evening last Tuesday, I was asked to talk a little bit about the evening and how it was run. The Senior Young leaders and Volunteer Representatives from Hertfordshire and Middlesex regions: Hannah Wagman, Dani Taylor, Mike Gladstone and I got the chance to plan this event. The purpose of the evening was to join together the JLGB weekly groups from both both Hertfordshire and Middlesex, to enjoy an evening full of activities. It was amazing to see how many members were able to join us, and it was great to watch all of the members and staff reunited after last seeing each other on Winter Camp.

We started the evening with social time, followed by games run by the National Youth Representative, Shera Conway. Once the members were in groups, we started the main event, where groups went round to different activities run by our fabulous Young Leaders. We had everything from cheesecake making, to a quiz, to team challenges, all using different skills to ensure they complete the challenges. The kids all worked so well together and really got stuck into each activity. With only one Young Leader in each group, it gave members the chance to work together and step up to help keep the team under control. We decided to ask six of the Young Leaders to run the different stations, and found that they were all extremely eager and willing to help. The organising committee and I were extremely grateful for that.  

After putting a lot of work into planning this evening, Hannah, Dani, Mike and I were so proud to see it all come together. Our plan was to unite all of the members through the event, as well as teaching them all valuable skills. Whilst we wanted to ensure that the kids got some valuable learning out of it, the most important factor was making sure each and every member was having a fun night, as it isn’t often that these kids across the whole of London get the opportunity to see each other. Whilst everyone attends different weekly groups, we watched as all of the members mingled with each other, and didn’t stick to the people they see every week. Being reunited with their friends from camp meant that they got the chance to catch up with each other at a different type of event, which as a member I always used to enjoy. It’s not every day that you are able to plan an evening that gives people the opportunity to do this, so it was amazing to see it all unfold. I would love to have the chance to plan another event like this in a couple of months before my time as Youth Representative is over.

Guest Blog by Devon Shoob, Youth Representative for Hertfordshire   

If you would like to write a guest blog for JLGB, email shani.reback@jlgb.org