FROME teenager, Grace Lloyd, alongside a group of young people, had a successful month of taking part in National Citizenship Service, a project run to give young people new opportunities, whilst also raising over £700 for a local charity.
The National Citizenship Service is a government-funded project run by the Somerset Rural Youth Project. There are four weeks of different things to do and new opportunities, which give a young teen something and somewhere to go after GCSEs, and in which time they will become braver and grow into young adults.
After taking part in the project, Grace said, “My first impression of it was this sounds exciting and something I need to do and now on the final day I am so happy and grateful as I feel I have truly grown as a person and become more confident.
“On the first week we stayed in Exmoor and did lots of activities such as mountain boarding, bog running and archery. We slept in bell tents and ate delicious food. This was our first time in our new groups and everyone was friendly and nice. We also had two young leaders who were friendly and pushed us to do our best.
“On the second week we stayed in college accommodation and had to cook and be responsible for ourselves and were treated like young adults. In this week we did activities such as perfecting our cvs, going into Taunton and doing a scavenger hunt, as well as making a tourist guide.
“The third week was organising and getting ready for the fourth week which is the week where you have to fundraise for a charity. So during the third week we were based in Shepton Mallet and it was full of calling businesses and making posters.
“The fourth week was also based in Shepton Mallet where we did a bake sale and busked in Wells and Frome. Thursday and Friday we went to Collet Park in Shepton Mallet and made a memorial garden with flowers and a bench, which we painted.
“In the end, we made £123.09 from our bake sale and £700.06 from the entire week which will go towards a local charity ‘In Charley’s Memory’, and the whole team couldn’t be prouder.
“At the end, the group was like one big friendship group, but I’m sure everyone is ready to rest and are happy to move on and feel like they’ve grown, both inwards and outwards.”
