RYLA

5^th April, Easter Sunday. I went on an official visit to RYLA in the New Forest. RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a scheme designed to assist with developing leadership skills in young people. In our District, young leaders are firstly nominated by their schools, then sponsored by their local Rotary Club to attend a four day course over the Easter weekend. I thought I would pay them a visit on Easter Sunday to raise morale and give them the benefit of meeting somebody from the higher echelons of Rotary, which would probably be the highlight of their weekend.  The DG came with me.

                                                             The New Forest

We were scheduled to arrive for lunch and spend the afternoon with the young leaders at Avon Tyrrell, which is the Youth Clubs UK National Residential Training Centre, situated near the village of Burley, in the New Forest. Travel times are always difficult to predict on Bank Holiday weekends, so we allowed two hours to get there, which gave us plenty of time. Indeed, the M3 was so clear that I was able to play with the Cruise Control switch on the new car on the way down. Cruise Control is a very clever concept, but I think I’ll only use it on empty roads. It is a little unnerving when you find yourself hurtling towards slower moving traffic and there is no space to overtake. Although I used it for most of the journey to the New Forest, I wouldn’t call it a relaxing trip.

                                                         Avon Tyrrell

In the past, the DG and I have got to know the New Forest quite well, as her mother lived there for several years and we often visited and toured the area. One of the most attractive aspects of the area is the proliferation of ponies (unique to the New Forest) which can be seen anywhere within the National Park. They are wild in the sense that they can roam freely, although they are actually owned by ‘Commoners’. As we drove through the Forest, and particularly around Burley they seemed more numerous than I ever remembered in the past. The village of Burley, which is a tourist hot-spot, seemed to be surrounded by ponies, and we decided that they must be attracted by all the people and the possibility of some food for free.

                                                              New Forest Ponies

Speaking of free food, we arrived at Avon Tyrrell on the stroke of noon, just in time to meet the team leaders and go in to lunch. The complex is centred around an old mansion,  surrounded by several acres of spectacularly beautiful scenery. There is a boating lake, High Ropes and Low Ropes courses, a climbing tower, tennis court, basketball court, football and hockey pitches, and probably much more that I didn’t get to see. The RYLA students (about 20 of them, I think) were all aged between 16-17 and evenly divided between boys and girls. They were housed in dormitories or in shared rooms, which group leader Mike Hurley said kept them safer than if they had individual rooms.

                                                     Avon Tyrrell (artistic shot)

The last time the DG and I attended RYLA was a couple of years ago, when we were asked to come along as ‘Responsible Adults’. A certain balance of adults per student was required, so volunteers from Rotary clubs were asked to attend on each of the days. On that day we actually joined in some of the activities. Whilst the DG joined an Archery session with one group, I joined the rest of them on a ‘Trust’ trek through woodland, whereby some members were blindfold, and the others took it in turns to lead them, which necessitated giving clear instructions about turning left or right, stepping over obstacles etc. I think effective communication was the important lesson here.

                                                        Topiary pig  

After this activity, volunteers among the students were invited to stand on a low wall and fall backwards, trusting their colleagues to catch them. This worked well, but when they invited me to get onto the wall, I declined. Looking around the group I wasn’t sure they could cope with my heavy weight without injuring themselves, never mind any damage I might suffer, so I thought I was doing them a favour by saying ‘no’. I did join in the next activity, which was ‘blind basketball’. Here individuals were blindfolded and stood in front of the basketball net holding a ball. Then another member of the team had to coach them on how and where to throw the ball to score a basket. Everyone had three goes. Without wishing to brag, I must record here that I actually scored in two of my three throws, which was better than anybody else that day.  Was that good throwing skills on my part, or good instructions from my coach? A bit of both, probably.

                                                        Scene of my triumph

To get back to this year’s visit, the DG and I were not required as ‘Responsible Adults’ as they had sufficient help already. Besides Mike Hurley, there was John Brewer, who organises our RYLA event each year, another Rotarian called Mike (I didn’t get his surname) and two Rotaractors, Helen from Epsom Rotaract, and Iulia from Portsmouth and Southsea, who had given up their weekends to support RYLA. Besides these, there were also professional instructors for certain events, such as canoeing. Lunch was served in a refectory, and despite a ‘no frills’ environment, the roast pork followed by apple crumble and custard was excellent.

                                                      The DG with John Brewer

My own club, Shepperton Aurora, have never sponsored a RYLA student, so I questioned John Brewer over lunch about the procedure. Basically I would need to contact local schools and encourage them to nominate pupils in years 11 or 12 who they feel would benefit from such a weekend.  John  offered to accompany me to schools and give a presentation to teachers and / or pupils about the benefits of RYLA. It currently costs a Rotary Club £250 to sponsor a student on RYLA at Avon Tyrrell. However, next year, because the District will be bigger, with consequently more attendees, the venue was being changed to High Ashurst near Dorking, which can accommodate larger numbers. However the cost will be closer to £400, which will need some arm-twisting at the Rotary Club if the expense is to be agreed.

                                                         Lunch time for organisers and students

I felt like settling down for a nap after lunch, but that was not possible, as I was invited to attend the afternoon’s first session. This was not a physical activity, but a discussion in the main room involving all the students, on subjects chosen by themselves. The previous evening they had brainstormed a list of ‘Issues facing young people in 2015’ and a fairly comprehensive list was made on a Flipchart which was hanging on a wall. The issues were far-reaching, and included things like Depression, University fees, gaps in education, Bullying, and finding the right home / school life balance. This afternoon, Mike Hurley split them into small groups and asked them to formulate a question on one of these topics and decide who it should be addressed to.

                                                         Group discussions

Some very interesting, and very personal views were expressed, which I won’t list here, but it was a good session in which Mike Hurley, who is a qualified Youth Worker, tried to get to the real issue underlying their questions, and challenged them to express their feelings with clarity. I sat next to Iulia, one of the Rotaractors, and found that she was originally from Romania. For some reason, Rotaract is very big in Romania, something I was already aware of, having listened to a presentation from a Romanian Rotaractor earlier this year at York Gate. We had something in common in that, like me she will be President Elect of her club next year. 

                                                        Driveway leading to  Avon Tyrrell

Iulia told me about some of the activities they did yesterday, one of which sounded quite amusing. The students were given a list of things they had to find in the grounds of Avon Tyrrell which had certain characteristics. For instance each group had to bring something back which was ugly, something beautiful, something which was a natural food source. Altogether there were about 10 things on the list. When the teams brought items back to be judged, the facilitators challenged every one, saying that they didn’t agree. This forced the teams to defend and justify their choices, which was possibly a new experience for them. Iulia said there were some unusual ideas. One young man came back and said that Natural food was all around us, in the form of Light.  This, he argued was the source of all food growth, as plants need light to photosynthesise, and living things cannot survive without it. I would describe that as thinking outside the box. The prize for original thinking, however, went to a young lady who brought in a painting taken from a wall in the building, as an example of something beautiful. She was urged to replace it before someone in authority noticed it was missing.

                                                  Leisure facilities

At 3 p.m. Mike Hurley announced that they all had two hours free time which they could spend any way they liked, sleeping, playing basketball, table tennis etc, or have a trip into Burley. About half of them opted for a trip into Burley, which the DG told them has one of the best ice cream shops she has come across. We had to consider transport, and it was decided that three cars would be needed to take them all into Burley, about 3 miles away. I naturally volunteered to assist. Accordingly I was assigned Helen, the Rotaractor plus two student girls as my passengers. Knowing that they had been engaged in outdoor activities all weekend, I was a little concerned about the carpets in my new car, which were still pristine, and I was tempted to ask them to remove their shoes before getting in. However I thought better of it, and decided to turn a blind eye to their footwear. Helen was very chatty, but the two students were quiet, so I asked them if they were enjoying the weekend. ‘Definitely’ they said without hesitation.  I couldn’t engage them in much more conversation, as I was busy coping with narrow roads, Bank Holiday traffic, wandering ponies and my constantly stop/starting engine.

                                                      Ponies in Burley

Eventually I dropped my passengers off outside the Queens Head pub in Burley (was that a good idea?) and said I would pick them up from the same spot in one hour, which gave them some time to look around. Burley is famous for its fudge, and also donkeys, which, like the ponies, wander freely around the streets.  When I got back to Avon Tyrrell, Mike said that students are often given the option of going into Burley. Over the years there has only been one unfortunate incident, he said, which was when one lad bought a bottle of wine as a present to take home for his mum. He lied about his age to obtain the wine.  There are now strict rules about purchasing, or attempting to purchase, alcohol. I had a chat with one of the students who said he was having a wonderful time. He had been sponsored by Coulsden Manor Rotary Club and would be talking to the Club about his experiences when he gets back.  He was hoping to be a lawyer, he said, to  help people worse off than himself. He even said he would like to join Rotaract when he reaches 18, as he is keen to put something back into his community.

                                                               Donkeys in Burley

When I returned to Burley, my 3 passengers turned up exactly on time. Thankfully they didn’t emerge from the pub. Helen had tried an ice cream, but the other two girls had not. On the way back I stopped a couple of times to enable photographs of ponies to be taken. The roads were noticeably quieter now, as people made their way home, and coincidentally, the ponies seemed to be drifting away from the village streets. I am even more convinced now that there is a connection between the proliferation of ponies around tourist spots and the numbers of visitors on busy  bank holiday weekends.

                                                         The Queens Head

Back at Avon Tyrrell, Mike Hurley gave me a handout containing an interesting quote regarding contemporary youth: 

  “Our Youth now love luxury. They have bad manners and contempt for authority. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food and tyrranise their teachers.”  

Does this describe today’s youth?  Well that quote was from Plato, writing in the 4^th Century BC.  ‘Plus ça change’, as they say in France.

                                                            Plato

We stayed to dinner of ribs and chips with organisers and students, before making saying farewell and heading back home.  As ever, I am in awe of people like the two Mikes, John and the two Rotaractors who had given so much of their own time without pay to make the weekend a success.  It had also been good to hear at first hand the benefits of RYLA to the young people who attend, and that they feel they have benefitted from the experience. The M27 and M3 were much busier with homeward bound traffic, so I decided not to attempt engaging Cruise Control. I was having more problems with snooze control.

(From left) John Brewer, Mike Hurley, Iulia, Helen, DG