Hi, my name is Liam Sellick and I have been the Clerical Assistant at Coneygre Arts Centre since May 2009. My contract has currently come to an end, and here on my last day I would like to share my experience with the readers.

I was offered the post on 1st April 2009 after a successful interview and started employment with Sandwell Youth Service on 11th May 2009. My duties have included admin support for the centre, and I have also been involved with many of the youth projects at the centre. I have attended Sandwell Shadow Youth Cabinet meetings and I have produced articles for the Voice 21 magazine and website.

Sandwell Shadow Youth Cabinet 

The youth cabinet are a group of elected young people who represent the voice of the youth of Sandwell. My main role for the group was minute taker at the weekly meetings. I have met so many nice people and made a lot of friends, I have experienced a lot with the cabinet.

I took part in the Candidate Information Evening and the Candidate Training Days, and attended the Elections Announcement at Sandwell Council House on Friday 5th March 2010, welcoming the newly elected cabinet. I have sat in workshops listening to Youth Cabinet members talking about the manifesto, and I went along to the Local Democracy Week Question Time event at the council house.

STAR awards

The STAR (Sandwell Teenagers Achieve Recognition) awards are a celebration of all the talented young people in Sandwell, recognising their contribution to society. The event is organised and hosted by the youth cabinet. I have also been involved in this process as I watched young people audition for the STAR Awards entertainment showcase. My first experience of the STAR awards was in 2010. My role on the day was to register young people. In 2011, I was invited to the STAR Awards along with my parents by the Youth Cabinet. The event was on March 18th, it was a couple of weeks before my leaving date. I thought this was a good way to celebrate my time in the Youth Service.

I was having a great evening and as the awards came to a close my name was called as I won an award for Youth Cabinet Recognition. I was buzzing with excitement! This was a special moment for me, I felt valued by all staff and young people. I can see that everyone appreciates everything that I have done here in my time in Sandwell. People were happy to see me to get an award for all my hard work.  

Voice 21

During my time at Coneygre I have been heavily involved with Voice 21. I have got to know the team very well and I really enjoy writing articles for the magazine and website. 

When I first joined we attended a Family Fun Day to promote Voice 21 at Tipton Sports Academy in May 2009, I had a really good day and got to know Mark and Sultan who run the project.

I have also attended the Black History Month event at The Public in October to celebrate Black History Month. I interviewed people who were there on the day for the magazine.

Voice 21 asked me to write articles about my experiences and the things I enjoy. One of my first articles I did was a piece on tackling my fear. This article was about when I went to Blackwell Court for a Team Development Residential and we had to do a zip wire, go up a giant ladder, abseiling and rock climbing. This eased my fear of heights as I faced my fear head on.

I also did an article called Liam’s Footy Adventure, this was my story of visiting each of the 92 football clubs in the football league.

My biggest passion is music, and I have produced articles on some of my favourite artists. I completed an article all about Lady Gaga called ‘The many faces of Lady GaGa’. It included some information on each of her singles; her album ‘The Fame’ and her second major label release ‘The Fame Monster’. I wrote about how she grew up and talked about her life so far. I also did a PowerPoint presentation on Lady Gaga for my Bronze Arts Award with Voice 21. I have also done articles on Katy Perry, the Saturdays, Duffy, Pixie Lott and the Brit Awards.

In May, I did an article called Liam’s Playlist. I told the readers how I got in to music and decided to put together a playlist of my favourite songs of all-time. I had my photograph taken with my CD’s and we listened to some music while we were taking photographs. My playlist was my favourite article because I love music and the article feels very personal to me. It is something I am constantly working on, coming up with my all time top 100.

I have learnt a lot with Voice 21 and all the work I have done at Coneygre. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and I thank all the people that have supported me.