First Teenage Market in NI'¨is held in Solitude Park

Youth Bank Banbridge hosted the first Teenage Marketâ„¢ in Northern Ireland, in aid of Positive Mental Health on Saturday which was supported by Big Lottery Fund.
Florence CarrotFlorence Carrot
Florence Carrot

Talented young performers took over Solitude Park for an afternoon of festival-style fun day out for the whole community.

The market was much more than shopping: it created the perfect opportunity for young people to be entrepreneurial, to try out a new business idea and sell creative products.

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The stalls run by young traders featured a mixture of recycled school bags and purses made of recycled material, clothes, watches, tray bakes, CDs, jewellery, and multi-ethnic crafts.

Florence Carrot, 24, and Mairead Hughes, 17 from Banbridge both ran stands at the Teenage Market.

Florence said: “This was my first opportunity to showcase my skills as an entrepreneurial crafts enthusiast and I hope the local community enjoyed visiting my stall as well as these of my fellow traders and performers.

“I have had the chance to sell bags made from recycled materials and keep the profits, which will help me to reinvest into the next market,” said Mairead. “I will make a donation to YouthBank Banbridge to support their project.”

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Joanne McDowell, the Big Lottery Fund’s NI Director said: “We are delighted to be able to support such an original and local youth-led initiative.”

Geraldine McGuigan, Coordinator, YouthBank Banbridge said: “This initiative is supported by YouthBank International, Belfast-based umbrella organisation for 206 YouthBanks globally including 18 in the Republic of Ireland and 6 in NI. The YouthBank movement is 15 years old and is still gaining momentum across the world.”

“We are delighted with the support of Big Lottery Fund we have been able to organise the first Teenage Market in Northern Ireland.”

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