Luke Smith: Chickens and Change in Ilkley

Myddleton Grange, in leafy Ilkley, West Yorkshire, is the diocese of Leeds' youth retreat centre.  We went to Ilkley (on the train) to talk to Luke Smith, 24, the full-time youth worker there.

Hi Luke - tell us three things about you.

First: I work at the magnificent Myddleton Grange.  Second: I'm from Wolverhampton originally.  And third: I used to have a job as a Lollipop Lady (and Man!) Trainer!

And tell us about Myddleton Grange - when did you open and what do you do?

We opened the doors to our dedicated centre in 2001 and more than 3000 young people come through them every year. The young people range from Year 6 (10 years old) to Upper Sixth (17 years old). They come for anything from one day to a week, but mostly 3 days. We take groups from schools and parishes all over this diocese and some from Middlesbrough and Hallam dioceses too.

And where does livesimply fit in to all that?

We're a retreat centre that's mindful of our impact in the world in terms of our programme and what we do as a house. From a house point of view, livesimply encourages us to recycle, compost and go for energy efficiency - we also have some chickens! We also encourage people visiting us to come on the train if they can.

Programme-wise we're all about livesimply too - it fits into a lot of the things we do.

For example, we're starting a Promise Wall just outside the chapel: we're getting a three-metre-wide board and asking people to come up with promises based on the 3 S's. They'll write it on a postcard and pin it up. Specifically it's about thinking carefully who's in their community and what they can do to be in solidarity with them

We also have a Fairtrade tuck shop to get them interested in those issues - we haven't got a decent supplier for a Fairtrade equivalent to Ribena yet, so that's one that we still stock! We recycle the Tetrapaks, though!

Each bedroom has a reflection on a livesimply theme and how it affects others and them - it's good to have it in there next to a copy of the Angelus and St Mark's Gospel… We've also got lots of livesimply-inspired information around the social areas of the Grange.

We work the themes into the Treasure Hunt activities we do, too, such as the refugee activities we do with Year 8s - they have a set amount of weight they can take with them in 24 hours' time and have to decide what's necessary and what's not - it's about needs and wants and is very livesimply - as well as getting to grips with real examples of other peoples' lives.

We use the livesimply liturgy resources a lot too, and the National Youth Sunday ones go down a storm!

We're all about tree planting too - we've planted 3000 in 6 years and are inviting World Youth Day pilgrims to come on National Youth Sunday to plant some more so they can offset their carbon!

So what's the take-home message you give your young people? What's your simple sentence?

"It's down to you - if you see these problems in the world, you need to make yourself aware and realise that you have the power to change it in some way, no matter how big or small."

We very much try to press on them that they have the ability to make change in the world and they should because they can - it's a Gospel value. We give them all Great Generation postcards to remind them of that.

And what top tips have you got?

Don't ever think something's too big to do something about. Break it down, do a bit. Empathy's fine, but you have to act on it. That's real solidarity. Think in terms of what if it was you - what would you want people in this country to do for you? And for goodness' sake use the bus.

Have you got any livesimply stories you'd like to share?

Yeah - my brother tells this amazing story about his trip to Guatemala. He was in a Franciscan parish, huge area, lots of people coming a long way to get to Mass - a long way from anywhere - they wore traditional clothes. He was stunned because at Mass they had a collection for the poor in Africa. The poorest people he'd ever seen were having a collection for the poor of Africa! They had a genuine sense of connection and awareness with those in Africa, and even though they had pretty well nothing to spare, they gave it and sent what they had. Amazing.

Luke, you're a legend - thanks.

http://www.myddeltongrange.org.uk/