I found it hard when tasked with writing a blog post to think of a snapshot of my day-to-day work that I wanted to put out into the world. Many youth workers have argued that our work and the relationships we hold are too complex to be explained readily. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t also a degree of anxiety at the idea of putting my practice up here for all the world to access, should they wish. Upon reflection however I found the hardest thing was in fact, the daunting task of distilling so many varied experiences into some sort of coherent message.
Seeking help, I got to talking to my colleague Jim about some of the highlights from the summer programmes we’ve run over the years. Naturally we ended up meandering around some of the more humorous situations we’ve found ourselves over the years; our attempts to save a picnic in Regents park after the heavens opened up on us; the time a pair of our young people got stuck on a ride at Thorpe Park while – to everyone’s terror – a pre-recorded announcement warned the barriers were about to open.