Inspired by attending NFYFC’s annual Summits, Oxfordshire County Chair Rebecca Ludlow and South East Area (SEA) Chair Hadley Glover hatched a plan to help them understand what junior members wanted from YFC in their Area.
Rebecca shares her experience of hosting a Junior Summit and explains why other Areas should consider similar events
The idea came from a random conversation with Hadley Glover (SEA Chair and Kent County Chair). Since meeting at the National Chairs’ Conference and the South East Area events, we’ve become really good friends – and we both love talking all things YFC.
About a week before our SEA Spring Competitions weekend, we were on the phone and came up with the idea for a Junior Summit. We got very excited and quickly brainstormed what we wanted the session to include – both in terms of what we could learn from our junior members, and how we could help educate them on the bigger YFC picture.
We’ve noticed that junior members can sometimes feel like they’re just part of a club, without always seeing the wider opportunities or the national structure. So, we wanted to bridge that gap.
The Junior Summit was a one-hour workshop. We kept it short and simple because it was part of the competitions weekend, and we didn’t want to take up too much of their time. That said, there’s definitely potential to expand it in future – we’d love to add more fun icebreakers and engagement activities.
The content was inspired by themes from the NFYFC Summit in recent years, and we also added our own questions to better understand what juniors think of YFC and what they want from it. (I’d be happy to share the presentation we used with anyone interested!)
We had nine juniors attend, which was great considering it was a bit of a last-minute event. Most didn’t know it was happening until the day. They came from across the South East – Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, and Berkshire.
This was the first time we’ve run an event like this. It was very much an experiment, but I’m already planning the next one! I’d love to host a Three Counties Junior Summit with Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire – we already run our Club Officer Training that way and get great attendance.
It was really eye-opening. Hearing the junior members’ honest thoughts and ideas about their YFC experience gave me a much clearer picture. We also launched a survey alongside the summit (which is still open), and we’ll definitely use that feedback to shape future plans and better support our juniors.
100% – absolutely. As a 25-year-old, it's been a long time since I was the age of our junior members, and times have changed. It can be difficult to guess what young members really want from YFC today.
This year, my focus as County Chair has been to do more for juniors – and even if I don’t achieve everything I set out to do, I feel proud knowing I’ve laid the groundwork and done proper research to help future teams build on it.
