00:02 My name is Tony Silcock. My job description is Lifeline project manager and I work for Youth Initiatives.
00:09 It involves working with fifteen to eighteen year olds on a personal social development programme. It also involves working with them on a faith aspect and also dealing with issues that arise in different areas in their personal and social life.
00:26 I am a product of Youth Initiative. I, I came here when I was sixteen and from then I volunteered for them. I was never in trouble with the police or didn’t commit any crimes. I was a product because Youth Initiative played soccer on a Sunday and some of the guys that I played soccer with on my Saturday team, also played on the Sunday and through that I got involved. I also did my gap year in Detroit, which was through Youth Initiative and then when I came back from Detroit, I went back into the education system and re-trained, got my business management degree and I, I continued to volunteer for Youth Initiative throughout that time, so in total before I started working for Youth Initiatives, I volunteered for them for about ten years, eleven years.
01:25 I loved school. I had a great relationship with my teachers. Mainly in school I was a sporty person, I liked physical education, I liked PE. I wasn’t very academic in school and now that I have time to reflect upon it, I realise that I wasn’t academic because I just simply didn’t put the time in and didn’t put the study hours in.
01:48 I, I left school with one GCSE originally um and it was in business and I was pretty good with, with, with numbers, so when I was thinking about what should I do as a university degree or what should I do as some sort of career option, I thought well what was I good at, at school and the only thing I was really good at, at school, was either sports or business, so I went back and studied business and finance and then I went uh on to business and finance in further education and then business management at degree level. I worked in a law firm, doing their finance for them um and there’s not really much to explain but it was just working with numbers and trying to, you know, keep the organisation afloat,
02:41 My father’s a plasterer, he’s a builder, my mum is retired. She did work for the health service, she worked for the ambulance service. My brother is also a plasterer and my sister’s a nurse.
02:53 I wanted to be a youth worker because I feel I’ve got the skills to impact young people. Youth Initiatives is, it’s a, it’s an organisation that you’re personal and your work life are very, very integrated together. I’m a firm believer that um volunteers and leaders need to come from their own communities.
03:15 This job is not, it’s a combination of a career choice and a life choice, it’s a lifestyle choice and I’m, I, I’m a Christian man and I believe that this is what I, I think I’m meant to do, is to work with young people. I don’t think I’ll be a youth worker for the rest of my life, I believe that I’ll be in the youth service um in some, in some area. But when I was at school I never honestly thought I would grow up to be a, a youth worker or a youth leader.
03:47 END
Tony Silcock
Tony Silcock
My name is Tony Silcock. My job description is Lifeline project manager and I work for Youth Initiatives.
It involves working with fifteen to eighteen year olds on a personal social development programme. It also involves working with them on a faith aspect and also dealing with issues that arise in different areas in their personal and social life.
I am a product of Youth Initiative. I, I came here when I was sixteen and from then I volunteered for them. I was never in trouble with the police or didn’t commit any crimes. I was a product because Youth Initiative played soccer on a Sunday and some of the guys that I played soccer with on my Saturday team, also played on the Sunday and through that I got involved. I also did my gap year in Detroit, which was through Youth Initiative and then when I came back from Detroit, I went back into the education system and re-trained, got my business management degree and I, I continued to volunteer for Youth Initiative throughout that time, so in total before I started working for Youth Initiatives, I volunteered for them for about ten years, eleven years.
I loved school. I had a great relationship with my teachers. Mainly in school I was a sporty person, I liked physical education, I liked PE. I wasn’t very academic in school and now that I have time to reflect upon it, I realise that I wasn’t academic because I just simply didn’t put the time in and didn’t put the study hours in.
I, I left school with one GCSE originally um and it was in business and I was pretty good with, with, with numbers, so when I was thinking about what should I do as a university degree or what should I do as some sort of career option, I thought well what was I good at, at school and the only thing I was really good at, at school, was either sports or business, so I went back and studied business and finance and then I went uh on to business and finance in further education and then business management at degree level. I worked in a law firm, doing their finance for them um and there’s not really much to explain but it was just working with numbers and trying to, you know, keep the organisation afloat,
My father’s a plasterer, he’s a builder, my mum is retired. She did work for the health service, she worked for the ambulance service. My brother is also a plasterer and my sister’s a nurse.
I wanted to be a youth worker because I feel I’ve got the skills to impact young people. Youth Initiatives is, it’s a, it’s an organisation that you’re personal and your work life are very, very integrated together. I’m a firm believer that um volunteers and leaders need to come from their own communities.
This job is not, it’s a combination of a career choice and a life choice, it’s a lifestyle choice and I’m, I, I’m a Christian man and I believe that this is what I, I think I’m meant to do, is to work with young people. I don’t think I’ll be a youth worker for the rest of my life, I believe that I’ll be in the youth service um in some, in some area. But when I was at school I never honestly thought I would grow up to be a, a youth worker or a youth leader.
END
Tony Silcock is Lifeline project manager for Youth Initiatives in Belfast - "It involves working with fifteen to eighteen year olds on a personal social development programme". He describes himself as a "product of Youth Initiative. I came here when I was sixteen and from then I volunteered for them." After doing a Business degree, Tony took a gap year in Detroit then came back to work in Belfast. "This job is a combination of a career choice and a life choice, I'm a Christian man and I believe that this is what I think I'm meant to do".
