MP welcomes national and international young volunteers

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 1st Oct 2008

John Thurso MP was invited by Becca Thompson of Global X Change to speak at the welcoming party for the young volunteers at Wick Scout Hut.

The group in Caithness consists of nine Bangladeshis and nine young people from across the UK and they range in age from 17 to 27. They will be in Caithness for the next three months, working on community projects such as the Horizon Museum and youth projects in Wick. In December they will all travel to Bangladesh where they will work on similar projects. Bangladeshi and British youngsters are paired off and living together with host families in Wick and the wider Caithness region. The exchange not only provides valuable support to community projects but allows the youngsters to share and come to understand each others culture and values.

John in his welcoming speech said "Caithness has always been a region open to the rest of the UK and the world and I am sure you will all receive a warm Caithnesian welcome. It is great to see so many committed and passionate young people come to volunteer here in the far north. On Monday, as I am sure some of you know, we had a young people's Caithness Regeneration Conference which I was honoured to address. Young people from Thurso and Wick made a wonderful contribution to our plans for the economic future of the area and I can see you will make a great contribution to the community. I hope you will enjoy your time here and enjoy this beautiful region of the Highlands."

After John's speech the volunteers introduced each other to the host families and visitors and sang a traditional Bangladeshi and not so traditional British song. Traditional food from both countries was then served and was much appreciated on one of the first cold nights of the season.