Local Face: Lucy Pike

Lucy Pike is no stranger to the young people of Wendover. She has been working in Wendover Youth Centre in one capacity or another on and off for the past 5 years. When Di Gosling was seconded to deputy Senior Youth Worker for the Aylesbury Team at the end of last summer, it was great that the person to replace her was someone who already knew the territory.

Now that Lucy is back in force, she is thrilled to be able to reopen some opportunities which had been mothballed. Lucy’ is back in a part-time capacity because the County is only able to offer limited youth coverage – the infamous cutbacks have hit the Youth and Community service very hard. We share Lucy with Winslow so she must be getting to know the A413 very well indeed!

Lucy has always been given part-time assignments in Wendover. When she was last working in Wendover, Lucy ran the seniors (14 to 18) and young Women’s Group which explored issues affecting 13, 14 and 15 year olds.

One group of young Wendover peoplewho will remember Lucy particularly well is the Shalom group. This was a party of fifteen 14 to 16 year olds who prepared for a year during which they received a group of young Israelis in October 1997 then visited them in Tel Aviv in April 1998. . For all concerned it was a truly life-changing experience and well deserved thanks were given to all the adult organisers involved, including Lucy.

One activity Lucy is particularly pleased to reintroduce is the Wendover Youth Centre Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. This relies very heavily on volunteer adult support. At the moment Lucy can use her two helpers from Winslow DofE -Robin French and Heather Dobson. This is a temporary arrangement to restart the Wendover DofE. If any other adults in Wendover would like to help, please contact Lucy on 01296 624473 or 01296 715824.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is open to people from 14 to 25 years of age. Awards are made at Bronze, Silver and! Gold levels. It is not necessary to have achieved Bronze before starting Silver. To start Gold, participants must be 16 +. Each participant must satisfy the assessors in four separate sections: skill, physical, service, expedition. Adult helpers encourage the participants in each section and can help with suggesting appropriate activities.

The first full meeting of candidates will be from 7.30pm to 9.00pm on Wednesday, 15th March in Wendover Youth Centre and anyone who is interested should, come along. Participants, parents and helpers are all equally welcome.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award at any level – is a well respected qualification in essential life skills. It is intended to develop both practical and social skills. Participants must work as a team in the expedition but other sections are intended to help build up resilience and reliability.

Lucy has great plans for Wend over Youth Centre. The current provision offers: Tues 7-9.30pm Seniors (14-18yrs) Wed 5-6.30pm Juniors (7-11years) Thurs 7-9.30pm Inters (11-13yrs).

Lucy wants to extend Seniors provision in Wendover. It is traditionally drop-in and peer-led. She hopes to appoint new staff for another evening. She is also hoping to arrange some courses for some of the existing Seniors to become volunteer helpers and qualify for certificates in leadership.

The programme for Inters is more structured. Again it does include drop-in sessions but the group decides the programme which usually includes activities such as video, craft, ten pin bowling, Green Park, ice skating etc.

Lucy is very keen to extend the number of courses run in Wendover and the number of County-run courses people from Wendover can attend. For example, before Christmas there was a very popular 6 week babysitting course. It is possible to access assertiveness classes, pre-driving courses and many more.

The Juniors Club from 5-6.30pm for 7 to 11 year olds is run by volunteers Di Holliwell and Eugene Flynn.

Lucy has recently acquired a new PC with internet and DVD. Why not come and check it out?