Subscribe to Whizz-Kidz NewsHartlepool Club Campaign shortlisted for UK Youth award
Hartlepool & Stockton based Ambassadors, Ben, Oliver and Chelsea - outside St. James's Palace
Whizz-Kidz’s Hartlepool Ambassador Club was a finalist for a Hearing Unheard Voices Award for their local access campaign. The awards were run by UK Youth – recognising campaigns run by young people across the country, and were held at a special ceremony attended by HRH Princess Anne, at St James Palace, London on 29 November 2011.
The Hartlepool Club decided to campaign about the size of public accessible toilets (dubbed “Too Tiny to Tinkle”) and parking spaces. The plan was to hold an open day and invite many local important people who would listen to a presentation created by the young Ambassadors.
Attendees on the day included the Lord Mayor of Hartlepool and Stockton, and representatives from Hartlepool Council including the manager of parking services. He had suggested that the Ambassadors took a day to patrol disabled parking bays with a policeman.
Another exercise carried out a supervision – with a representative from the supermarket – of the local Tesco car park one afternoon.
Corey Atkins, 11, from Darlington Lane, explains more;
“We found that many people were parking in disabled bays but didn’t have a blue badge, and a lot of the toilets were too small with no room to turn a wheelchair and some had no handles on the walls. We might do another survey in the future, and hope to see some of the changes made. It was a good experience.”
The youngsters were taking part in one of the charity’s many ‘Ambassador Clubs’ which Whizz-Kidz runs around the country as part of its ‘Kidz Unlimited’ scheme. The clubs provide spaces for young disabled people to make friends, learn new skills, find a voice, and campaign locally on issues that are important to them.
In the end, the Hartlepool Club lost out to Chris Hampton, 19, who founded his campaign ‘Autism Don’t Panic’. Congratulations to Chris, and the other finalist in our Category, ‘Life in My Shoes’ – a campaign about young people with HIV.
To find out more about Whizz-Kidz Ambassador Clubs in other areas and how to get involved, call 0800 151 3350 or visit our Kidz Unlimited website.
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