Tom rocks!

STUDENT Tom Jennings is not your average teenager – even if he does have dreams of being a rock star!
Even though he is not old enough to vote he has already fought an election campaign, winning the right to be a voice for young people in Warrington South as a member of the Youth Parliament (MYP).
More than 10,000 young people from Warrington schools cast their votes and chose 16-year-old Tom to represent them.
Now Tom from Grappenhall, Warrington, who has a passion for politics, would love the opportunity to be an MP one day.
He already sits on the Impact Youth Council working alongside Warrington Borough Council on campaigns that affect young people and is actively involved in a Youth Café project for Warrington town centre.
Tom, a student at Priestley College, is also a volunteer at the Peace Centre, where he helps out two nights a week and sees the town centre Youth Café as a great opportunity for the town to “have two great youth clubs.”
He says the town centre has no facilities for young people to use of an evening, with many “hanging out” around the skittles.
“There are at least 100 young people who hang out in the town centre with nowhere to go. We sit and play music and chat and chill out but could do with a venue to meet up in,” he said.
“I realise there are a small minority of young people who give us all a bad name – but the vast majority of us our just interested in meeting up, playing music and seeing our mates.”
He is also actively involved in the campaign to save Walton Hall and Gardens, another venue popular with young people.
“My family come from the public sector, with my parents working as nurses and my sister as a teacher which has helped develop my interest in politics,” added Tom.
Having recently formed a rock band with a group of friends, Tom is already following in the footsteps of a recent Prime Minister and if he does achieve his dream of being an MP one day – who knows what the future could hold?