Of interest to those working with young people

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2015 4:48 PM

Subject: Newsletter from The Challenge

News and Updates from The Challenge Lancashire Team

Hello!

Welcome to the NCS Lancashire Newsletter, brought to you by NCS with The Challenge. Here at The Challenge we thought it was about time that you heard about what we get up to on our NCS Programme and the wonderful Partners that we work with.

First of all, lets introduce you to...

The Team

Team BWELL: introducing Jonny, Luke, Helen and Dave. These guys are responsible for setting up and delivering the programme in Blackpool, Burnley West Lancashire, Wigan and Leigh.

Team BAP: introducing Zoe, Claire, Sarah and Esther. This team is responsible for setting up and delivering the NCS Programme Blackburn and Preston.

Meet Karla

I'm Karla the assistant graduate manager for the North West. This year we have lots of great opportunities for the graduates of the NCS programme. You will have chance to meet back up with friends, make new ones, build on your skills, learn new ones and take part in events and projects in your community. Don't miss out! Look out for emails and posts on the NCS North West Facebook page. We hope to see you soon!

NCS Updates:

With the intention of making our programme more youth led - we have made some changes to our The Real Challenge Action/Design part of our programme. Each team will be partnered up with an organisation for several projects they have to plan- beginning with a social action day to directly benefit their partner.. Young people then raise money to directly fund their project and can potentially raise additional funds to give as a donation. In September, each team carries out their project. Finally, teams design and run a social action campaign influenced by their partnering organisation.

Hopefully, this will lead to the Young People making a last impact in the community as well as forming a stronger connection with our Partners

Partner Spotlight

During September all of our NCS participants took part in various sponsor events across Lancashire to raise money for local charities. In Preston we had over 300 young people raising money for the Space Centre, Luv Preston, Emmaus and Seed; and raised over £4000 for these charities. Their challenge? Bouncing at Preston City Trampoline Club and taking part in a walk around the docks - many wearing onesies and fancy dress!

Partner Spotlight

In the summer of 2014 NCS with The Challenge were invited to partner with Harwes Farm Trust, a new and exciting social venture in the Colne area. Harwes Farm CIC aims to offer outdoor space for recreation, education and retreat with a focus on sustainable living; spirituality; music and the arts. We managed to arrange two different visits to Harwes Farm to visit Andy and Gill Taylor, the first being a professional visit and the second a social action project.

The professional visit included a tour of the farm and some of the grounds, with an overview of the vision for the Farm. It also included a presentation by a group of NCS delegates about their very own campaign in the Burnley and Pendle region. Andy and Gill were able to give them great feedback on how to improve and develop their campaign plans.

Two teams of 12 NCS young people visited the farm for the social action project day. This entailed a mixture of activities including meeting and learning about the Chickens (including the famous KFC), assisting with some important grounds maintenance and working on the structure for a new planting bed. In conclusion, the event was a rip-roaring success with young people and staff alike being inspired and energised by the work they were able to complete. Many thanks to Andy and Gill at Harwes Farm!