Case study: young people sharing Woodcraft

Folk practice at Co-operatives United

Summary:

Lottie, 15, was one of a group of young Woodcraft

Folk who represented the organisation at Co-operatives United,

a 3-day celebration of co-operatives large and small.

Recommendations: There are lots of opportunities like this to represent

Woodcraft Folk and they’re really fun, as well as a great way

to make Woodcraft Folk better known.

Talk about them in your group

Talk to someone who’s been to one about what it’s like

Prepare with workshops to develop the skills you need

Use a variety of methods to share Woodcraft Folk values and

ways of working: workshops, games, media, displays etc

Before Co-ops United I’d been involved in the TREE Steering Group, working on ways to help young people participate more in Woodcraft and in the community. I also did Young Reporters training, looking at how I can bring news to national Woodcraft about things that have happened locally and also showing things that have happened inside Woodcraft to people outside the movement.

“We showed that there are co-operatives for young people

and they’re not all about adults.”

Relevant links

News story from the event:

https://woodcraft.org.uk/news/

celebrating-co-operation-co-operatives-

united

More about the TREE programme:

www.woodcraft.org.uk/tree

We did a lot of little things: we played some typical Woodcraft games in one of the main areas which I think really got people into playing with us, and introduced us to everyone. I helped with the games and it was great fun. We also had singing and spontaneous games, which got some of the Co-ops in different places joining in and finding out about us. The challenge was getting people who weren’t Woodcraft Folk members to join in; we managed to get quite a few but people were nervous to start with!

It was a very good event, it got all the Co-ops together and showed that Co-ops are not just the shop down the street but big and very small groups of people who try to do as much for each other and the community as possible, which is brilliant. Woodcraft Folk young people showed that young people are co-operative too and live their lives in a way that helps those around them. I think we also gave the event a fun side, as we took part in things but we also had some activities organised and ‘un-organised’ to grab people in which was a great way to get Woodcraft known!

What happened:

My previous Woodcraft Folk experience

Young people’s roles at Co-operatives United

Why it’s important for young people to be involved

The support we got to represent Woodcraft Folk

I had the support of older people at the event and a few people before the event gave us little work-shops on reporting and explaining our activities to the public, which gave us the confidence to talk to other people at the event, and also gave us the skills to be able to report everything going on and interview visitors. I think the support we had was great and there wasn't anything that could have been better!