On Saturday 12th September, we along with Miss Allen took a trip down to Dublin (at 8 in the morning) to attend an important Youthbank Conference that was held in the National College of Ireland. We spent the day with the Ballymena Youth Bank organisation sharing transport and even a McDonalds breakfast!
We had the opportunity to meet with other Youth Bank team members from Northern Ireland and Ireland, and got involved with them through the activities that took place that day. The conference was a whole day event starting at 10:30 and ending at 4:30. It included a workshop on money skills and fun sessions such as drama and storytelling. The focus of the conference was "being smart with money" and to enable us to learn about how Youthbank can be used to make it better for the community. During the morning we tool part in a quiz which focused on people's opinions towards money, it was setup in a similiar way similar to Quiz Dom, this was a good opportunity for everyone to share their opinions and ideas. It was a fun day and a lot was learnt from it, we are looking forward to speaking to the other youthbank committee members.
After the days event the Girls Model and Ballymena Youth Banks started their journey home in a the minibus, but unfortunately the bus only made it to a petrol station on the outskirts of Dublin before it broke down. The groups had to wait a while stranded at the petrol station until some friendly Irish folk helped start the mini bus, but everyone enjoyed the wait as the girls took the opportunity to purchase some ice cream and sweets for the long awaited journey home. After an hour or so the bus was finally on the road again and as an apology the bus driver Karina stopped at a Takeaway restaurant and treated everyone to a big dish. We both enjoyed this trip and would like to thank school for allowing us to take part.Thank You!!
