By the time you will be reading this there will be new Members of Youth Parliament for Poole.

The elections will have taken place on the 27th January and I’m sure the Civic Centre will have been taken over by all the young people there, either to stand, support friends, or see what goes on. And no doubt you will be hearing from them next month.

So what have we done in the last year with Youth Parliament? Such a lot, it’s crazy! We started by setting out our three priorities: Communication, Schools’ Councils, and Pride in Poole.

You may have seen a bit about our progress on each of these over the last few months, but we have been really successful with them all.

We have created our Facebook page, and an Online Forum is being designed for more young people to get their voices heard by decision makers (hopefully it will be all be finished in February); we have created a Schools’ Councils’ Charter (based on the views of young people) for schools to voluntarily sign up to help their school councils to make a difference; and have received funding to create a film about all the positive activities for young people in Poole, which is being filmed as we speak.

We have also got an agreement with the council that we, and all future UKYP members, will receive an invitation to every Full Council meeting and Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny meeting.

We are able to comment on any agenda item, or raise our own issues to be discussed, and this procedure is being written into the Constitution.

This is such a great achievement, and shows how much the council listens to the voices of young people in Poole. Let’s just hope that what we say gets acted on so that young people can make a real difference in Poole!

One of the best things we did was take part in a debate in the House of Commons in November.

Nathan took part in the debate, and what a magnificent one it was with such eloquent speakers - a really good image of young people - and I was involved in the media work on the day - blogging, tweeting and filming the day to capture every moment. It was a brilliant experience to sit in the Chamber and one we will always remember.

We visited the fire stations in Poole in April with the current Mayor at the time, which was another really interesting, fun day.

We went to a number of stations across the town, and saw how they work, as well as some of the projects they run to help vulnerable young people. It’s such an important service and they all do a great job in the community, for young people and everyone else, so it was really good to see them.

We have done so much more - so much that I can’t tell you it all. But it has been such an amazing experience, and I have learnt so much from it. My public speaking skills have come on leaps and bounds, and my confidence has grown so much.

I have realised how much effort goes into planning anything, how much longer things can take when you do them properly (our Facebook page took months to create!), and met so many amazing young people with inspirational stories to tell.

So if you like the sound of what we have done, have any ideas about what you want to improve in Poole, or just want to make a difference in your local community, email Luke Edie or come along to Poole Youth Forum - the first Thursday of every month at the Civic Centre in Poole.

Thank you to everyone who has read our blogs and supported us, and finally good luck to the next Deputy and Member of Youth Parliament for Poole!

Vicky Olive (DMYP for Poole)