The trip is part of the Streets Ahead Project which aims to improve understanding of different cultures among young people.
It is being organised by East Sussex County Council’s Youth Development Service and has been partly paid for by the young people themselves, helped by a grant from the European Union Youth Connect Fund and the Positive Activities Programme.
The group will consist of members of a four-piece girl band, a football team and representatives of Hastings Youth Council, Icklesham, and Hollington Youth Forums. They will be comparing their lives in Hastings with their counterparts in the town of Bremen to get a better understanding of the similarities and differences in the two countries.
Councillor Meg Stroude, Lead Member for Children and Families welcomed the trip:
"We have many visitors to the Hastings area and it is important that our young people learn to tolerate and value different cultures. We hope the trip is an experience the young people will never forget and when they return they will help to encourage tolerance and mutual respect among different communities by sharing their experiences.”
The trip aboard follows other nationally recognised work carried out by the Streets Ahead Programme managed by East Sussex County Council Youth Development Service with their German partners, VAJA. It has included projects to reduce tension among young people and foreign students. Young people from Germany will visit Hastings on a return visit in 2007.
Notes to editors
For more information please contact Colette Mercer on 01273 481365.
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