January 2009

DareLondoners gather at City Hall for first meeting of 2010

Belated but hearty 'Happy New Years' filled the City Hall conference room, which played host to the first meeting in 2010 of the DareLondoners.

Siana chaired the evening on January 28th, and began with the usual Ice Breakers, settling us enthusiastically into the events for the remainder of the evening.

Presenting DareLondoners with the opportunity to market their spanking new branding were Tower Hamlets Summer Uni, soon to be known as FUTUREVERSITY

Select members of DareLondon will team with their cousins, the Summer Uni Youth Ambassadors to form a 'Brand Team'. They are set to make the mainstream launch of the new look youth service go off with a bang. We look forward to hearing more about it!

Another highlight of the evening was an informative session with Neil Walker from The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (or LOCOG for all you crazy lazy abbreviation lovers). Wielding a crutch as his pointer, he took us through the plans for 2012.

The nature of our existence as a board meant we were concerned with how it would impact young Londoners. Questions were asked specifically around the topics of volunteering and tickets. We were assured that when ticket prices become available in 2011, they would be 'affordable'.

I think we were party to a slip of the tongue, as I faintly recall hearing £15 being mentioned. Hey... we can all stop dreaming of a ticket characterised by that class of 'affordability' being enough for a front row seat in the men's 100 meters. I can hear the sighs now as visions of Usain Bolt flashing past you within feature recognisable distance, vanish into air.

On further thought, there may be hope. We could try to find out how many front row-ish tickets are going to be made accessible to modest income bearers, like us. (And maybe optical glass wearers, like me... hehe). That's definitely something to discuss at the next board meeting.

On the subject of 2012 volunteers, anybody who wants to get involved can head over to www.london2012.com/get-involved to contribute to the success of the games.


Our next DareLondon social is Go Karting, and we can't wait. Look out for future pics of us in action. Lewis Hamilton eat your heart out!

October 2009

Siana Hosts Intergenerational Conference

A few months ago our partner organisation, London Youth, was asked by the Beth Johnson Centre for Intergenerational Practice if they could provide a young person to chair their National Intergenerational conference. Fortunately, having DareLondon as their Youth Advisory Board they knew just where to look.

On 28th October DareLondoner Siana Banguara, chaired the conference and did an absolutely fantastic job! Not only did she do a great opening speech but also made a really insightful summing up which referenced other speakers from throughout the day. All this to a room of over 100 people, without showing any sign of nerves. She is now a star in the world of Intergenerational practice and they are already planning her next appearance.

Siana has also agreed to co-present London Youth’s awards ceremony coming up on Wednesday 9th December at The Courtyard Theatre on Pitfield Street.

Our DareLondoners really are some remarkable young people.

April 2010

DareLondon Update

March was another fantastically busy month for DareLondoners. On the 3rd March several members of the DareLondon team went to the House of Commons to launch the London Manifesto that that had helped write. Coelle was asked to speak at the launch and did an amazing job explaining DareLondoners involvement with the document.

The 25th March saw the second DareLondon board meeting of the year, chaired by Daniella at City Hall, it was another excellent meeting that saw the DareLondon team start their journey on Keyfund, advise John on London Youth’s Getting Ready project, evaluate the brochures of partner organisation Futureversity and start to prepare for the Mayors’ Youth Ambassadors Programme with the hope that some DareLondoners will go on to this after September.

London Youth’s AGM held on 29th March was this year hosted by three DareLondoners; AJ, Dami and Tekla at Glaziers Hall, they did an awesome job and even managed to make sure it all finished on time!

Also during March DareLondoners Coelle and Tekla assisted London Youth with the interviews for the new Head of Centre at Woodrow High house. Tekla interviewed the candidates at Canary Wharf during the first round of interviews and Coelle put them through the hot seat at Woodrow during the second round of interviews.

Wow what a month! Bring on April!!!