Last Friday was Thanet’s day to pinch some ideas from the BBC. In the morning the ‘Education Business Partnership’ organised a version of the ‘Apprentice’ and gave local schools the task of ‘rebranding’ Margate. In the afternoon, local primary schools took part in a competition based on the ‘Speaker.’ I agreed to be one of the judges at both events and I’m glad I did.

When I ask adults about the future of Thanet and how our local towns should develop as often as not the replies are cynical and negative. Any advice that adults offer me or the Council is as likely to be negative and based on a pessimistic outlook of the area. But not so the young people who presented their ideas on the future of Margate.

Ten teams, from around Thanet but also as far away as Dover, took part and every single one presented an upbeat vision of how Margate’s future could be transformed. Each one had made a realistic assessment of the challenges the Town faced but also had some great ideas for facing them. Not one team thought the task was hopeless, not one team was negative about the future and every single one of them could see the great things the Town could offer and had ideas for exploiting them. There was not one team that didn’t have at least one idea that the adults in the room, which included councillors and people with responsibility for promoting the Town, could not make use of.

When I left the Apprentice I was feeling upbeat about what I’d heard. More than that, I was delighted to see how well the young people had presented their ideas and was excited by the standard of the work they had done. The afternoon was to boost my spirits further.

The ‘Speaker’ entrants were primary school children. Their task was to stand alone on a stage, in front of a full lecture theatre at the Marlowe Academy, and make a speech about whether or not ‘It is good to be different?’

The standard of their speeches was phenomenal for children so young. I only wish they could all have been given first prize.

A big part of my job is speaking in public and listening to adults talking about their ideas and, believe me, I hear many speeches by adults that fall far short of the standard these children set. Every single speaker could be proud of their effort. More than that, the content of their talk showed that children are far more open to diversity and more tolerant of the differences between people than are many of the adults that I come across.

The world, and our local community, has many problems but I’ve never believed that any of them are insurmountable. But what I learned last Friday was that if my generation can’t sort them out, the next one is well capable of doing the job. There really is hope for the future.