MORE than 160 young people from across Scotland headed to Saltcoats at the weekend for the Scottish Youth Parliament’s 65th National Sitting.

Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) attended St Matthew’s Academy on Saturday, April 13 for a jam packed day of workshops, training sessions, discussions, consultations, and debates, in addition to updates on the progress of SYP’s national campaign on young people’s rights, Right Here, Right Now.

The evening before the Sitting also welcomes the return of a firm favourite in SYP’s calendar – and a great platform to showcase young people’s achievements in this, the Year of Young People – the annual SYP Awards.

MSYPs from North Ayrshire, Chloé Robertson MSYP, Cadely Paton MSYP and Aaran McDonald MSYP, were particularly excited about welcoming the membership and guests to their home constituency.

“The last time SYP was hosted in North Ayrshire was exactly four years ago, and it returned bigger and better than ever.” said Aaran.

“With the Year of Young People now underway we have a unique opportunity to create a movement of young people standing up for and fighting for young people in their communities across the country.”

“It’s so great to have hosted the Scottish Youth Parliament’s 65th national sitting at North Ayrshire,” said Chloé, “especially with it being the first Sitting since the Year of Young People 2018 launched.

“There is no better way to celebrate young people’s abilities and accomplishments than to practice our democratic right of freedom of expression.”

Cadely said: “This was an exciting opportunity for MSYPs to come together to meet and discuss the activities they have been working on. The awards are an excellent way to display the awesome work and talent put in by the wonderful young people involved in the youth parliament, showcasing the cool work young people put in, and how much they are loved and valued.”

Chief Executive of North Ayrshire Council, Elma Murray, said: “We were delighted to host SYP65, welcoming MSYPs from every corner of the country for what was an invaluable experience.

“Given that 2018 is the Year of Young People, it’s now more important than ever before that we celebrate their achievements, value their contributions and create new opportunities for them to show us what they’re made of – and the SYP65 Sitting and awards is a great opportunity to do exactly that.

“Being both the Chair of Young Scot and Chief Executive of a ‘child-centred’ council, I see regularly how passionate, determined and capable Scotland’s young people are – not least our MSYPs who do a great job of representing and standing up for young people’s rights, views and issues.

“I want to thank the Scottish Youth Parliament for putting on a fantastic and inspiring weekend here in North Ayrshire.

“It was a privilege to attend and an even greater honour to have met and heard from so many outstanding young people from across Scotland.”

Deputy Chair of SYP, Suki Wan MSYP, said: “I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has worked hard to bring the Sitting together.

“In particular, staff at North Ayrshire Council, and also North Ayrshire’s fantastic Support Workers and incredible MSYPs for hosting us and welcoming us to ‘their patch’.”

The Friday evening of the Sitting was a particularly exciting one for the membership, with the annual SYP Awards at Saltcoats Town Hall.

The glitzy 1920s-themed ceremony, sponsored by The Wood Foundation in association with Youth Philanthropy Scotland, saw awards given out in the categories of One to Watch, Achievement of the Year, Support Worker of the Year, Area or Group of the Year, Communicator of the Year, Unsung Hero, and the top award of the night, MSYP of the Year.