Mansfield teenagers take to Takeover Radio airwaves to talk about a traditional Polish Christmas

The group of girls learnt how to produce and present radio shows with the help of Nottinghamshire County Council and Takeover Radio in Sutton.

The girls are Roksana Falkiewicz (aged 11), Wiktoria Bernat (aged 10), Klaudia Pietriak (aged 12), Julia Jaskolowska (aged 13) and Kinga Lebek (age 13).

The event was part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s outreach youth work on the estate, and youth workers met the group of girls who explained they felt isolated and were keen to get involved in a range of activities.

The girls have since taken part in many regular youth sessions and after explaining they were keen to learn about broadcast media, the youth service arranged for them to take part in some radio production sessions with Takeover Radio.

For the last eight weeks, they have met at myplace youth centre in Mansfield on Tuesday evenings with Takeover Radio staff, learning how to put together radio shows – and have recently broadcast their first show, with another one planned in the coming weeks.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s Councillor Liz Plant, vice chairman of the children and young people’s committee, said: “This project is an excellent example of how young people have been able to promote their native culture here in England and at the same time develop their skills and personal confidence at a young age. “This experience will really benefit them as they look towards their future career and personal aspirations.”

Rose Braisby, Project Leader for Takeover Digital, said: “It’s been a great pleasure working with the girls. I’m very proud to see how much they’ve achieved in just a few weeks.

“They’ve learnt presenting techniques, how to record sound effects, developed their confidence and created exciting and unique audio that we just had to air.

“When I first met the girls they were very nervous about talking into the microphone, but now they record themselves every week and do it professionally and then go on to edit their own radio.

“It’s fantastic to see how much they’ve grown in terms of confidence and I wish them all the very best of luck in their future endeavours. A lively, creative bunch who really capture the essence of young people making radio!”

You can listen to the show again by downloading the link from the radio station’s website: www.mixcloud.com/Takeoverradio/yo-turkey-christmas-radio-show-by-roksana-julia-kinga-and-victoria/