Young volunteers, staff and trustees from Dorset Youth Association are getting exited about featuring in the BBC’s Heritage Heroes which will highlight them taking part in their unique history project Dorset Young Remembers supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The BBC’s presenters John Craven and Jules Hudson teamed up with the young people in the County Town last September and filmed Alistair Chisholm taking them on a trail of historical hotspots across the town. The town crier told them ghoulish history stories and they showed him a GPS treasure hunting tool that will help get young people hooked into history. Later in the day volunteers and trustees were joined by staff from the Dorset County Museum they researched the archive of photos of Dorset Youth Association and youth clubs it has supported across the county over the past 70 years.
Lorna Johnson project worker “The clubs we have visited are so different. Some focus on hobbies and crafts, others on racing go carts at top speed, but everyone we have spoken to has told us youth club is all about fun and friendships and a safe place for young people to relax and let rip. We are tracing the decades through favorite bands and fashions and tuck shop chews! 
The exhibition ‘From Tents to Twitter from Hiking to Hotpants’ at Dorset County Museum in the summer will try and show the huge value of this network of rural voluntary and DCC youth clubs.
Tony Armstrong project manager “We have recruited an amazing 20 strong team of young volunteers but If you want to get involved in the project and learn some heritage skills we still need volunteers to help in transcribing interviews, editing film and audio stories, and assisting with historical research and press and social media work. Contact us on 07788203003”
If you have a story about attending youth clubs they would love to hear from you especially if you can remember back to the 1940’s!
Dave Thompson, Director of Dorset Youth Association said: “It was great to meet the BBC team. They were very interested in how the young people are working to preserve this unique history of youth participation in Dorset”.
The programme will be broadcast on BBC 2 on Tuesday 21st February, 6.30pm.
