Youth Opportunities Committee

The District Youth Opportunities Committee is co-ordinated by Rtn Tony Storer of the Rotary Club of Amber Valley. Any general queries about District Youth Opportunities should be directed to him.

The committee is responsible for organising a number of events over the Rotary year, with a view to providing a platform for children and young people across the District to showcase their skills. Queries about specific projects should be directed to the District organiser as shown below. The following projects are planned for the Rotary year 2010-2011.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards ( RYLA )

District Organiser: Rtn Kim Armstrong (Sherwood Sunrisers)

The intention of these residential courses is to take young people who show some element of leadership potential and to develop their initiative, self reliance, good citizenship, leadership and team working qualities. Candidates will need to be in reasonably good health as the course is very demanding both physically and mentally.

District 1220 operates two RYLA courses per year at the Whitehall Outdoor Pursuits Centre, near Buxton. Trained and qualified staff from the Centre are responsible for the day to day running of the courses. The courses are also supported by Rotarians. Some are resident for the weekend whilst others attend on a daily basis.

The next course, from Friday, 12th November to Sunday 14th November 2010 is designed specifically for the 16 and 17 years age group. The course from Friday, 8th April to Sunday, 10th April 2011 is designed for 14 and 15 year olds.

Please note that the RYLA rules prohibit people from taking part in more than one course, therefore acceptance onto a course is dependent on candidates not having taken part in a previous RYLA course.We are unable to accept applications for places from youngsters over the age of 18 years on the date of the course.

The sponsoring Rotary Club is responsible for paying the joining fee for any candidate that they sponsor. Clubs are expected to make appropriate travel arrangements to and from Whitehall for any candidates that they sponsor.

Fees for the course are set by The Derbyshire County Council. The latest fees we have been advised of are as follows:

Derbyshire residents, November Course £85
Derbyshire residents, April Course £95
Non-Derbyshire residents, November Course £117
Non-Derbyshire residents, April Course £132

So as not to be disappointed, clubs wishing to sponsor students are asked to make contact as early as possible with Kim when full details will be discussed.

RYLA Poster
RYLA Information pack for November 2010
RYLA application form

Rotary Young Chef Competition

District organiser: Carolyn Stone (Ilkeston )

This event is designed to allow youngsters to demonstrate their skills in menu and budget planning, sourcing and purchasing ingredients, hygienically cooking and serving a healthy two or three course meal for two. Selection for the competition is normally based on local schools, often with school heats needed to decide who should go forward to the district competition. At the district competition the competitors will be questioned and judged by experienced chefs about what they are doing, how they selected their menu, etc. Clubs may well wish to find local chefs to judge their heats.

The rules of the competition are available on request from the organisers and may also be found elsewhere on the web site. The rules may be relaxed by Clubs for local heats being held to choose an entrant for the District competition.

The winners and in some cases the runners up from District event will be eligible to go forward to a Regional event and from there to a prestigious National final.

The competition is designed for all students under 18 years on 31 August 2010. The timetable for the event is:-

31/10/2010 Clubs to register their intentions to participate

31/12/2010 Local competitions to have taken place and name of entrant for District competition passed to district organiser.

Feb. 2011 District competition – venue and exact to be confirmed when number of entrants is known

April 2011 National Final (date to be confirmed) at Stratford College

Rotary Youth Speaks Competition.

District organiser: Alan Langton (Mapperley)

Rotary Youth Speaks is a public speaking competition for teams of young people. It has been successfully organised by Rotary in this district and others for many years. The object is to give young people the experience of speaking on a public platform, encouraging them to formulate their ideas on specific topics and to present them concisely in a limited time, together with the opportunity to learn from the performance of others. High standards of expression, presentation and appearance are required.

A team is composed of three young people. The Chairperson has two minutes to welcome the audience, introduce the speaker and inform the audience of the relevance or expertise of the speaker to the subject of the speech. The Speaker has six minutes for the address and a maximum of two minutes to consider and answer questions posed by a questioner. The Proposer of the Vote of Thanks has two minutes to propose the vote of thanks. After this and any applause, the Chairperson will close the proceedings.

Club competitions may be run by one or more clubs in a locality to select a winning team to go forward to the district competition. Winners of the district event then go forward to a Regional Final and eventually the winners from here will go on to the RIBI National Finals.

There are two competitions
Intermediate Competition - for students aged 11 -13 years on 31 August 2010
Senior Competition - for students aged 14 - 17 years on 31 August 2010

There is no financial commitment on clubs that sponsor a team. Their responsibilities are to encourage the team and to ensure their attendance at the relevant competitions by arranging transport as necessary.

Local heats must be completed by January 2011
The District competition will take place at Ravenshead Village Hall on the afternoon of 5th March 2011. This will be followed by a Regional Final at Hull on 20th March 2011.
The National Final will be held at Cranleigh School on 1 May 2011

Please contact Alan Langton for any further information.

Young Musician

District organisers: John Hall (Amber Valley ) and Terry Clay (Melbourne)

District 1220 has been successfully holding the Young Musicians Concert for a number of years now. The standard of the performances has been rising year on year. The objective of the concert is to allow talented young musicians from across the district an opportunity to perform at a prestigious venue, in front of a discerning, paying audience. It is NOT a competition. Any young musician who has achieved a good standard of proficiency may be considered - vocalists, violinists, pianists, trumpeters or saxophonists. All are welcome. Full packs of information, including nomination forms are available from John Hall and are elsewhere on the website.

As this is not a competitive event there is no progression to a regional or national event.

Because the event is not competitive, any musicians who are under 19 years of age are welcome to apply.

The next concert will be held at The Darwin Suite, The Assembly Rooms, Derby at 7pm on Sunday 15th May 2011. We would ask that all nominations be made as early as possible as this does help with the organisation of the evening.

No cost falls on clubs nominating a young musician. They are however asked to support their nominee by attending the concert in good numbers and by ensuring transport is made available for them. Tickets for the concert cost £5.

Photos and report from the May 2010 event

Rotary Young Photographer

District organiser: Tony Pink (Sherwood Forest)

This competition is for young people who may submit up to six photographs for judging at Club level. The judges can be professional photographers or other suitably qualified persons. The theme for this year will be "Community Spirit" Entrants must submit a portfolio of at least four different prints, either colour or black and white, no larger than A4. In addition they must also state in no more than 50 words a description of their inspiration for their photographs. An official entry form must also be completed and submitted (entry form downloadable from Web site) (to follow shortly).

Any club level competitions should be completed by 1st February 2011. All participants should receive a certificate of their achievements with suitable prizes for the winners in each age category. The winning photographs should then be forwarded to Tony Pink for entry into the District Competition. This will be judged by a professional photographer and a Rotarian. Prizes will be awarded at a small ceremony the details of which will be announced later.

There are no regional or national competitions at present. The District Competition Final will be held on 1st March 2011.

There are three age groups for this competition:
Junior under 11 years
Intermediate 11-13 years
Senior 14 to 17 years
Ages as at 31 August 2010

Clubs will be responsible for arranging their local club or school competitions and for supplying suitable certificates and prizes. They will also be responsible for forwarding the winning entries to Tony Pink and for ensuring that their winners have suitable transport to any District event organised in connection with the District competition.