This summer, across Swindon, hundreds of young people aged 16-17 will take part in the National Citizen Service.
Some in politics choose to sit and criticise our young people or criticise the lack of opportunities for today's youngsters. We choose to act to give young people a chance to build their CVs and improve their prospects.
NCS is a scheme that was the personal project of Prime Minister David Cameron. The idea was a summer scheme to help young people build skills for work and life, whilst taking on new challenges and meeting new friends.
Last summer I visited the teams as they embarked on raft building, assault courses, survival skills, planning a charity fundraiser and actually carrying it out. We had teams raising money for the Women's Refuge bag packing in local supermarkets, others doing a sleep out for Swindon's Special Care Baby Unit and a group putting on sport activities for young children all over the Town.
This year I am back visiting. The enthusiasm is just as strong, the ideas just as bold, but the numbers have grown exponentially. Thanks to increased funding, we have twice as many doing the Scheme this year as did it last. That is twice as many adding real life skills to their CVs to make them stand out, twice as many gaining true leadership skills and twice as many being encouraged to take responsibility for the community in which they live.
Already this summer I have visited the students as they tackle obstacle courses, plan evening entertainment and build rafts. I have seen them put on activities for local children in Toothill and this week heard their 'Dragons' Den' pitches for their week of fundraising for local charities. It was great to hear who they have chosen to help and why, what they are planning to do and how they are getting on. We have music events for Cardiac Risk in the Young, car washes for the Special Care Baby Unit, food challenges for the Foodbank and bag packing for Swindon Stillbirth and Neonatal Death.
What struck me particularly is the camaraderie. I assumed that these were groups of friends who had chosen to do the Scheme together, but they are not. They met each other for the first time two weeks ago yet in the course of the 3 weeks, with the activities and responsibilities that NCS asks of them, they have formed a really strong bond. They will now be putting that to good use to raise money for local causes and it is fantastic to see them working so hard to improve the area in which they live and the lives of our fellow local residents. I take my hat off to them.
