On Friday 11th November, two Davison High School Girls shadowed their local MP, Tim Loughton, for the day as part of National Takeover Day 2011.
Takeover Day is a national event that gives children and young people a chance to shadow adults who are in positions of power and responsibility and learn more about the world of work. Ellie and Claire, who are in year 10 at Davison, were paired up with the East Worthing and Shoreham MP on a busy Friday in his constituency to get a better understanding of what it is like to be an MP.
The first port of call was the B&Q store in Lyons Farm where Tim and the girls met the Service Manager and a representative from B&Q’s Head Office. They were shown around the store and were informed that B&Q’s Forest Friendly Programme meant that they knew where 100% of their wood was sourced from.
After an hour at B&Q, they travelled to Worthing Town Hall for a memorial service to mark Armistice Day where they met the Mayor of Worthing and were given a tour of her parlour. They then joined the procession and walked to the War Memorial for the remembrance service.
At 11.30 they travelled to Tesco’s at Holmbush, Shoreham to meet pupils and staff from local schools Glebe Primary, St Nicholas and St Mary CE and St Peters R C Primary. Tim presented them with their “Equipment for Schools” rewards as part of the Tesco for Schools & Clubs scheme which gives UK schools and clubs a variety of useful items in exchange for vouchers earned with shopping bought at Tesco.
The next stop was to Buddy’s drop-in centre and café in Worthing where young adults with learning disabilities work and go for advice. They stayed for lunch and the girls spent time talking and getting to know some of the people there.
Ellie said that “it was an eye-opening experience to see how difficult it is for them to lead a normal adult life”
The girls final visit was to Tim’s office at Haverfield House in Worthing where they met Chris Tomlinson from e.on electricity who is planning a new offshore wind farm project, off the Sussex coast, called ‘Rampion’. In January last year e.on ran a competition for local schools to name this project and they chose ‘Rampion’ from a Davison High School entry. The meeting went on for an hour where they discussed market research and planning permission. Ellie and Claire got involved in the discussions by giving their opinions and asking questions.
Tim then parted ways with Ellie and Claire before moving onto more meetings and his surgery in Southwick.
After the day had finished, Tim said:
“Today has been a great success and I hope that Eleanor and Claire have learnt more about what it is like to be an MP. Days like these play an important role in the development of young people as they can provide some insight into prospective career choices.”
Eleanor said:
“Today Claire Winter and I met Tim Loughton to spend the day shadowing him as he carried out his constituency duties. We discovered he had a lot of responsibilities and also a lot of connections with local businesses. He is a well respected man in the community and it was great to spend the day learning about what he does and what is expected of him.”
“Mr Loughton was very welcoming and open to our questions. He made us feel at ease and involved us in his busy, varied day. This was a very good insight into the working day of a busy MP.”