Ambitious young people celebrated at first Scotland House showcase
The inaugural event at Scotland House on Sunday, 20th July showcased the ambition of young people in Scotland through an art exhibition. The afternoon celebrated over 800 young people who participated in Commonwealth Games projects run by The Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Award in Scotland this year.
To help young people achieve their aspirations in their community, the DofE partnered with Dumfries and Galloway Council to host the Commonwealth Youth Summit from 6 to 9 June in Dumfries. The Summit, which gave over 200 young people from across the Commonwealth leadership training, was remembered at Sunday’s celebration with a video montage of the weekend. Chair of the Community and Customer Services committee, Councillor Tom McAughtrie was presented with a commemorative group photo from the Summit.
As well as the Summit event, Dumfries and Galloway Council hosted their Commonwealth guests for the week following the Summit, giving them the opportunity to visit projects across the region and attractions throughout Scotland. During this time, bonds were made between the young people and the volunteer host families and these will last for many years to come. Some of the Sri Lankan guests have already made plans to return after exams in August and invitations have been extended to us from both Ghana and Australia.
Councillor Tom McAughtrie, said “It was with great pleasure that I accepted the gift recognising the tremendous success of the Commonwealth Youth Summit. Despite the many challenges facing our Council, we are fully committed to supporting our young people to be the best they can. An event like the Commonwealth Youth Summit was a rare and unique opportunity for young people to come together from across the world to live together as one community, learning from each other and building relationships and networks.
Dumfries and Galloway are incredibly proud to have had the support of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards and The Holywood Trust and the outstanding commitment of our staff and volunteers all of which made the Summit the best youth work event Scotland has seen and a fabulous legacy for our young people.”
The Legacy 2014 projects celebrated at the event were made possible with support from the Celebrate Fund.
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Photograph attached – photo shows Cllr Tom McAughtrie receiving a commemorative group photo from the Summit from Emma McNally (in her Girls Brigade uniform) who attended the Summit.
