Members of Stroud District Youth Council (SDYC) were presented with awards to mark their length of time served on the council at their recent annual general meeting.

Retiring chairperson Rebecca Hunt highlighted the youth council's achievements over the previous 12 months which include creating a new Youth Voice website (www.stroudyouthvoice.co.uk), and raising awareness of mental health issues through ongoing discussions with local health commissioners and practitioners. She also highlighted members' involvement in local and national campaigns such as gender equality and the availability of free sanitary products for those in poverty.

Rebecca was succeeded by George Adamson, who will chair the youth council for the next 12 months. George is the voting representative from Berkeley Vale Youth Forum and will be supported by Amy Jones, a voting representative from Katharine Lady Berkeley School (KLB). Jonty Fuller, also a voting representative from KLB was elected as SDYC Leader, and has guest-written this week's Leader's Diary.

Guest speaker Robin Ellis-Cockroft gave a presentation to the group about his experiences since he was chair of the youth council from 2010 to 2012, which now includes involvement in Stroud's Access Bike Project and Our World project having spent time at university and development work overseas.

Stroud District Council's leader Cllr Doina Cornell attended the meeting, and made the presentations, commented:

"It's always a pleasure to hear about the work of young people as active citizens and the achievements of Stroud District Youth Council this year are just that."

She added:

"Young people's involvement in local democracy is hugely important to the future of our society and as a district council we must acknowledge this through our support for this type of youth engagement."