Some of our NCS students from Caldew School spent last week at Eden Valley Hospice as part of a wonderful Social Action Project.
The summer cohort took it upon themselves to tidy up the garden area at the Hospice and they spent time digging out weeds, trimming back the shrubs and completing repairs and general work to allow access for wheelchairs and mobility scooters.
NCS coordinator Carl Carr said: “The students have been magnificent and they’ve done an excellent job. This is my first cohort since taking over the job and it’s been good to see the way they all came together as a group as they completed the various stages of the course.
“With the Social Action Project, they get to choose what they want to do and they’ve applied themselves fully to making a difference for what is such an important facility. A second group also worked on improvements at Caldew School, so they really have given a lot back to their local community in what has been a relatively short space of time.”
Student Alice Mallinson took the lead on the Eden Valley Hospice garden project, and she said: “When we found out that the Hospice garden needed a bit of a work we knew straight away that it was something we wanted to do.
“I think we all feel really good about the fact that we’re making a difference to such an important facility. It’s one of the really good things about the NCS course, that you can get to do something like this, and it does leave you feeling proud that you’ve played a part.”
And the students also spent a whole night in the Neil Sports Centre on a ‘Sports Marathon’ where they played different sports (from 10pm to 7am) to raise funds for local homeless charity Carlisle Key.
Olivia Middlemiss, who took charge of the fundraising activities, said: “We’ve raised over £1,000 and that’s amazing. We’re all really pleased. Carlisle Key is another important charity which looks after young adults who have hit hard times, and we’re just happy that we’ve been able to help.”
For more information on our NCS courses please call our Community Sports Trust on 01228 554 169 or email fitc@carlisleunited.co.uk
