On the 18th of October, the Scouts at the Four Oaks Methodist Church hosted a mini Question time session where they interviewed their local MP, Andrew Mitchell.
This semester these Scouts are all working towards their Media and World challenge badges. To achieve these badges they needed to learn more about the issues affecting their community and interview a locally well know person. What better way to combine these 2 requirements then by inviting and question your local MP.
To prepare for this evening, the Scouts have been using their scouting sessions to think of questions they could ask. They even had one of their leaders stand in for MP so they could practice asking questions.
During the evening the Scouts asked Andrew Mitchell questions about his work in parliament, his view on Brexit and other recent political events and what he learned from being a Scout. Also there were discussions about global warming, housing and the perception of groups of young people in public spaces.
Andrew Mitchell stressed that young people can be involved by contacting their MP when they have issues they feel concerned about. It was great to see that one of the Scouts had already done so and now had opportunity to discuss his letter about cycling in Sutton Park with his MP in person.
The Scouts were also privileged to observe Andrew Mitchell giving a live on air interview to Channel 4 regarding the situation in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In the feedback session, the Scouts commented that they now feel that politics is a lot closer to them than they imagined.
Alco Jensema, leader of the 5th Sutton Coldfield Scouts, commented that Scouting is all about preparing young people for live. Our politicians have a big impact on their live and it is important for them to understand their role and how everyone can influence the process themselves. It was great meeting our local MP and I would like to thank Andrew Mitchell for his openness with the children and to counselor Alex Yip in helping to organize the evening.
