Youngsters from Helston’s three primary schools were given a chance to look behind the scenes of the town council last Thursday.

At the start of the ‘youth engagement’ event, pupils from the school councils of St Michael’s, Parc Eglos and Nansloe were all given a name badge before making their way to the Corn Exchange.

Here they met mayor Jonathan Radford Gaby and his wife Wendy, the mayoress, as well as town clerk Chris Dawson and macebearers Fred Angove and Paul Cook all dressed in civic robes They received a welcome and brief introduction before being split into groups to carry out different activities, each lasting about 15 minutes.

This saw the children creating ice cream sundaes, before tasting them; a question and answer session in the mayor’s parlour; and a quiz where the answers could all be found in the council chamber.

When they had completed all three activities the pupils were briefed on how to speak in council meetings and practised using the microphones, ready for a debate in the council chamber.

This began with each school reading and sharing their arguments for and against the motion, which was “There are plenty of places to go and things to do for young people in Helston.”

Mayor Mr Radford-Gaby then made a proposal for the pupils to vote on.

At the end of the evening each school was asked to give feedback, while pupils received a big thank you for joining the town council at the event.

Shelly Price, from the council, said: “They all seemed to really enjoy it. The idea is to try and engage with the local primary schools about what happens in the council.”