Teenagers try new role

It was certainly no ordinary day in the office for two teenagers last week! As part of the 11 million Takeover Day Jack Barnes and Michael Scott took over Graeme Hill’s role as Disability Sports Officer at Link4Life.

The day is a national event led by the Children’s Commissioner for England and is an opportunity for organisations to demonstrate their commitment to children and young people by taking on board their views and then acting on their recommendations so that they shape their future work.

Mr Barnes and Mr Scott are regular attendees on the Sunsport programme, a sports programme supporting young disabled people, and were both keen to see what goes on behind the scenes.

The teenagers started work with a meeting about the formation of three new Saturday Clubs for young disabled people. These are launching in the New Year and Mr Barnes and Mr Scott provided vital opinions on sites they are looking at using. This was followed by a visit to a day service in Heywood and a trip to the Middleton Arena where another teenager, Jonathon Mcole, was doing a ‘takeover day’.

In the afternoon Mr Barnes joined a group to watch the Para Cycling World Championships at the Velodrome in Manchester. He said: “I’ve had a brilliant day, I really enjoyed shadowing Graeme and going to the Velodrome was amazing.”

Mr Hill added: “Jack and Michael brought a very enjoyable atmosphere into the office and staff really appreciated their enthusiasm, opinions and thoughts on the services we provide. I would like to thank their parents and schools for letting them come along and we are looking at having similar day again.”