"Million", and Why it Was Awesome

Hello, there! I'm George, and I joined the Redbridge Youth Action Team in September 2009 after being blown away while helping out at a couple of events earlier on that year. The first of those was called “Million”.

Held at Ilford Town Hall, Million was a free entertainment and awareness-raising event that aimed to be, and succeeded in being, universal in its truest sense; organised completely by the Redbridge Youth Action Team and executed with the assistance of about 60 extra young volunteers (I was one of them). Ilford's multiculturalism was well-represented, as were people of all ages – there were parents with young children, groups of teenagers, adults and senior citizens all curious to see what was going on inside, where we had an amazing variety of local talent on display throughout the afternoon as well as various stalls promoting Redbridge's volunteering and public information groups and some local businesses.

But it wasn't just inside. The event started out in the town centre, with music, dhol players and street dancers to warm up the crowd and get people asking what was going on. Some of my fellow volunteers acted as promoters, pulling people away from their shopping to spend some time with us. I spent most of the day outside, manning the PA system, so I got to witness first-hand the brilliant crowd-gathering, crowd-stirring and crowd-pleasing acts out on the High Road, even if I did get a couple of dance tracks in the wrong order!

At the day's peak, the Town Hall was a bustling entertainment venue. Everyone there was genuinely impressed with what we and the team had pulled off, and it was humbling to see such high-quality performers giving up their time for free. The volunteers on the doors, with their clickers, reported just over 1000 visitors by the end of the day; a real achievement!

After seeing what the Youth Action Team was capable of on that day, I signed up there and then. Now, we're in the early stages of organising a similar (but hopefully even bigger and better) event to take place later this year. Continuing the big-number theme, we're thinking of calling it “Billion” or “Million Squared”, or something along those lines! I'd love for this to become an annual event in Ilford, and I'd be proud to say that I was there at the beginning. It showed that a group of committed people willing to give up some of their free time can achieve something successful and brilliant, and it was truly inspiring.

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