SEVEN

The changing social perceptions toward age fascinate us. With every few years that pass, the starting point of what’s considered “middle aged” is pushed back a little further. It wasn’t very long ago that people in their early thirties were expected to have settled down with a family, a mortgage, a steady career to see them until retirement, and perhaps even a collection of garden gnomes.

These days, the average person is more confident in discovering new experiences; people travel more freely, further away and for longer periods of time; and it’s becoming increasingly common to remain a big kid into your forties and beyond - look at Simon Pegg, he’s 43 and spends his life surrounded by comics, toys and zombies! Total ledge.

We started thinking about this today because a member of our team has noticed a lot of his mates in their early twenties posting the same type of update on Facebook: “Hungover after a night out. Can’t take it anymore. I’m getting old.” 

His unwritten response: “You’re 23. Get some Vitamin C down your neck and stop moaning. You’ll know you’re old when you go out for a single pint and wake up in the French Foreign Legion.”

Fair play, really.

With healthcare and standards of living improving and generation gaps narrowing, it’ll be interesting to see how things turn out in the future. Maybe the OAPs of 2083 will still be playing with their holographic XBoxes and listening to K-pop well into their nineties? (Fingers crossed, eh?)

Being in charge of this blog, I’m often searching the Internet for interesting and insightful stories about young people to share with you all. A lot of the time I somehow end up on YouTube and get stuck there for 15 minutes clicking through video after video (but don’t tell the boss!).

Recently, trying to find news about young people has been epically depressing. Almost every story I see is about youth unemployment at the moment. Sprinkled throughout that if you look hard enough, are stories about the increasing use of Ketamine amongst teenagers and stories of cyber bullying.

Don’t get me wrong, these are important issues and will affect so many of us in the present and in the future to come but I can’t help but ask the question:

When did being a young person become so depressing?

This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011, a week when budding young entrepreneurs celebrate their achievements and work towards changing their future for the better.

Let’s celebrate this and sprinkle some positives in amongst these negatives!

A website aimed at encouraging young people to start their own businesses was launched on the first day of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011.

Wildfire – www.wildfirehub.com – is an interactive resource for young people who are in the early stages of starting their own business. Wildfire has lots of information, guides, FAQs and video case studies of young entrepreneurs and, more than that, it creates real networks for young people wanting to develop entrepreneurial skills.

On the site there will be access to successful young entrepreneurs, video diaries, forums, mentors etc. Wildfire adds another level of support for the young people of Yorkshire and Humber, complementing everything that partner organisations are doing to help young people. The development of Wildfire is supported financially by the European Union as part of the net315 project in Yorkshire and Humber.

This weekend dozens of young people completed a 400-mile journey from Jarrow to London. They were then joined by hundreds more as they handed in a petition to number 10, pleading for a job creation programme, the reinstatement of the Education Maintenance Allowance and youth services to be protected.

Put simply, this march told the story of a generation of young people crying out for social justice. Young people are angry, they know they’re getting a tough time – but they know that times are only set to get tougher.

A crisis is set to hit Britain, a crisis of Britain’s youth. We are said to be the future, but a perfect storm is brewing, and is set to devastate the livelihoods of young people.

Last night Force-7 Director Philip Batty was speaking at a Humber Young Enterprise event. Since winning the national competition for the Company Programme in 2007, Phil has developed Force-7 into the exciting and dynamic agency that I’m proud to be part of today. Last night’s event was a celebration of the ‘Who wants to be an entrepreneur’ challenge which sets local companies a series of tasks to raise lots of money all in the name of Young Enterprise. From dressing up as dinner ladies and serving schools dinners, to a walk in custard filled wellies (don’t ask), the challenge has been a great success raising a total of £23000.

Cookit, a company from Hymers College competing in the Company Programme, were given the opportunity to go to a trade fair in Bratislava thanks to the success they had at trade fairs in England.

It was a great evening and gave everyone the opportunity to see how the money they raised is going to encourage young people in the Humber area to be more enterprising.

Congratulations to everyone who took part and well done to Humber Young Enterprise for all the great work they are doing.


Another great thing about the evening was the lovely afternoon tea we had!

What’s fair? A perfect life with a mum, dad, brother and sister, a big house and lots of money? That’s not the truth, because more often than not that house will be full of arguments and upset. I used to wish for that, but now it’s different all I wish for is the roof over my head, a mum that loves me and a whole bunch of friends that stick through everything with me; thick and thin.

When I was 8 my dad was diagnosed with a Cancerous brain tumour, my brother was away in Iraq with the army. My family were getting torn apart. My mum and dad argued more and more until finally he left home. I didn’t see him for over half a year and after that when I did see him he tried to buy my affection, a holiday here jewellery and presents there. Although it seemed at that age I had the best dad in the world I didn’t. I used to sit in the kitchen waiting for him telling my mum ‘just 5 more minutes he’ll be here’ he never did.

4 days before my 11^th birthday he died, the cancer had taken over him, I was numb, I was too young to understand all that had happened. That’s why I broke down this year, I had nowhere to turn, I felt like no one was there to listen, I tried to end everything and I know that a lot of today’s youth do try it, because I’m one of them. I felt like I didn’t even have my friends, they didn’t understand why I would go out of lessons crying, or not turn up at all because I was sat with the support team. I found it hard to trust people I had known my whole life, they were shocked. I accused them of doing things they hadn’t done, I accused someone of betraying me when they told my mum what I was trying to do – when really he saved my life.

I’m getting help now, I have someone to talk to and someone to share my problems with, but I wouldn’t want anyone to go through the same, I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer in silence because I know how hard it is, it seems like a bottomless pit that is too deep to get out, but with help you can!

Message from this blog post? Don’t suffer in silence, tell someone! Get the help you need!


by Laura (work experience, aged 15)