How did I come to be involved with politics at my age? 

It must be because I was hypnotized by my family background.   My earliest memories are of my Mum making speeches at committees in the House of Lords with me asleep under the chair lulled to sleep by droning adult voices.  Later she became a local politician and yet again, as we lived in a one parent family I was asleep in the council chamber – listening with one ear and thinking why use ten words when one would do! 

By the time I was eleven, my mother was Mayor and I was a member of the local youth council. 

I realised very quickly that if you wanted something done in any field of life you had to get on and do it yourself, otherwise ideas only existed on pieces of paper and never the saw the light of day. 

We had a town where the young were neither respected nor given a feeling of belonging. 

The sad thing is – that as a human being if we recognise something that needs doing – the very fact that we are aware of it – means we have to get on and do something about it.

I decided my first job was to restart the youth council, so I became a thorn in the side of authority … I wrote letters to the press.   I took stalls at community events to try and enthuse young people to get up, and make their voices heard to achieve what they wanted …  

A youth club, a place to be, and a skate board park. 

What has been achieved?

We now meet once a month with a number of weekly subcommittees which are not talking shops, but activity led. 

We pressurised the council to allocate money for a part time youth worker, who is invaluable to us.   We enjoy the support of a retired councillor who acts as our elder statesman and advisor. 

I organize monthly band nights for 13 to 18 year olds where four local bands a month have a chance to promote their music in front of local young people.  This is not only for the young community in general but to encourage those who want to make music and giving them a free local venue and enabling them to encourage support for each other. 

We also hold monthly disco’s for 10 to 16 year olds, where young hopefuls are encouraged to act as DJ’s. 

I also serve as the youth member of the board of trustees of the committee for the youth clubs.    Through this committee we have organized weekly club nights for 11 to 16’s which offer, self defence groups, make up evenings, cookery nights, ice skating outings, sexual awareness evenings, and in future hope to run other training evenings. 

I am involved with the local crime prevention panel – it is the first time a young person has been invited to participate, and we are now looking at possible youth involvement with a neighbourhood watch scheme. 

To try and change this I chaired our local authority's (Dacorum) Local Democracy Week and feel we have made a tiny step towards change, but there is a long long way to go. 

Kahlil Gribran, the Lebanese poet and philosopher, said to his fellow adults 

“For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”. 

The young are tomorrow’s leaders and we must ensure that their voice is both heard and respected - NOW. 

Mischke Weinreb