NCS Shining a light on the amazing achievements of young people in Blackpool
CUMBRIA 3RD July 2013: Young people in Blackpool can look forward to an exciting visit from National Citizen Service (NCS) as the first-ever NCS road-trip; the NCS Spotlight Tour makes its way across the country, starting in the South West before heading up to the North East of England. On Saturday 6 July, a NCS branded-bus will roll into Blackpool. Ball-skills star and presenter, Frankie Vu is leading the NCS Spotlight Tour and will meet the local young community alongside YouTuber and NCS ambassador Alfie Deyes. Alfie has established an incredible following on YouTube, with nearly 900,000 fans subscribed to his channel where he vlogs about teenage boy troubles and funny challenges. Find Alfie on YouTube
NCS will be shining a light on 18 year-old, Danny Hodgkinson, who NCS would like to highlight as a young talent on route to great things. Danny is an arts and graphics student from Norbreck, who has turned his passion for drawing to fashion. He has set up a clothing range called Carr Road Clothing Co with a friend before solely taking over the helm this year. Danny already has an online store where his designs are available and he has big plans for the range’s expansion, including designing hats made out of Yorkshire sheep wool.
NCS has programmes running this Summer and Autumn, which 16 and 17 year olds can sign up to and discover their talents. To find out more visit NCSyes.co.uk.
In the run up to the NCS Spotlight Tour, NCS has been asking its social community to nominate one of their friends who they feel deserves recognition and who NCS should ‘spotlight’. The chosen individual will be invited to join the NCS Spotlight Tour, meet presenter Frankie Vu and YouTuber Alfie as well as feature in the NCS Spotlight YouTube video series.
Also joining Frankie Vu and YouTuber Alfie on the NCS Spotlight bus will be local singer songwriter, 20 year-old Jess Harwood. Jess is a self-taught guitarist whose songs are already getting airtime on local radio and BBC Radio 6 Music. NCS has invited her to perform an intimate acoustic set from the bus after being nominated by the social community. Not only that, she will also play at an NCS Tweet Up event that evening, which is a meet and greet gathering at The Arena from 5.30pm.
NCS is inviting under-18’s to come and meet their favourite YouTube stars at the Tweet Up event. At this event, young people will also have the chance to take part in a football session. Frankie Vu will lead numerous football challenges such as dribbling and shooting, freestyle games and a football obstacle course, giving everyone a chance to practice their football skills and the opportunity to take part with Frankie. The Tweet Up event will then celebrate the NCS Spotlight Tour with a performance from Jess Harwood and a meet and greet with the YouTube star, Patricia. The tweet-up event is run in conjunction with Inspira, who manages the NCS contract in Lancashire and Cumbria and delivery partner Flyde YMCA.
“The young people who are being spotlighted are an inspiration to their peers,” said Mark Bowman, CE of Inspira. “They represent the ethos of the NCS programme. I hope young people from Blackpool and surrounding areas will come down to the Arena and support Jess and meet the YouTubers at this tweet up event.”
All the action from the NCS Spotlight Tour will be captured on film for a series of YouTube episodes to be released at the end of the summer on the NCS YouTube channel. The episode from Blackpool will be released on the NCS YouTube channel in August.
The NCS Spotlight Tour was created to champion young people who are doing amazing things in the UK as well as to make more 16 and 17 year olds aware of NCS and encourage sign up to Summer and Autumn programmes.
NCS Spotlight presenter, Frankie Vu said, “I’m really excited to be on the road with NCS, finding out more about the programme and meeting young and talented people along the way. NCS Spotlight is a great way to highlight the NCS programmes this summer. NCS is a brilliant opportunity for young people to build self-confidence and skills for life. I can’t wait to meet lots of young people who have great stories to tell and talents to show us!”
As part of the NCS Spotlight Tour, Frankie Vu and YouTuber Alfie will also be visiting one of the local providers that work with NCS – TCN (The Challenge Network). On Sunday 7 July, Frankie and Alfie will head to Millenium Centre to meet with NCS graduates and help them pull together their final projects that span a variety of interests such as sports, video editing and music. This is another opportunity for NCS to shine a light on the programme as well as the great work of NCS providers who run the programmes throughout the year.
Natasha Kizzie, Director of Marketing & Communications at NCS said, “We are delighted to be able to champion young people in England. NCS Spotlight is a great opportunity for us to get out on the road to meet young people doing amazing things and shine a light on NCS this summer. NCS is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for every 16-17 year old to discover their own talents and become part of our active NCS community.”
For further information, please contact:
Claire Benson
Communications and Marketing Lead
Inspira
07793577484
Notes to editors
Inspira is a national social enterprise based in Cumbria. The organisation is a leader in delivering and managing personal development and career guidance programmes for young people and adults. Inspira manages NCS in Blackpool, working with delivery partners Fylde YMCA and the Football League Trust.
NCS (National Citizen Service) is a once in a lifetime opportunity open to all 16 and 17 year olds across England. It is a unique three week full-time programme, plus 30 hours committed to a community project, focused around fun and discovery that benefits both young people and society. Participants build skills for work and life, while taking on new challenges and adventures, learning new skills, making new friends and contributing to their community.
Government support means that it costs just £50 or less to take part in NCS and bursaries are available on a case by case basis. NCS represents great value for money for parents as participants spend TWO weeks away from home with all meals and activities covered. The first week is spent at an outward bound facility participating in activities such as abseiling, water rafting and canoeing. The second week teens live away from home, typically at local university halls of residence, learning how to be self-sufficient, developing new skills and finding out more about the needs of their local community.
Taking place outside school/term time, teens can sign up for the part-residential experience and participate in either the spring, summer or autumn programmes. In every programme they will experience four sections that focus on personal and social development including leadership, teamwork and communication skills. Not only do 16 and 17 year olds have the chance to give something back, but it also looks great on CVs and helps with job, college and university applications, BUILDING future aspirations. NCS is now recognised by UCAS and taking part is a sought after addition to any CV.
In 2013, NCS Trust, an independent social enterprise, was set up to manage NCS and execute the ambitious expansion of the government backed programme.
To find out more information about NCS or to sign up to NCS visit NCSyes.co.uk <http://ncsyes.co.uk/> . Like us on facebook.com/ncs <http://facebook.com/ncs> , follow us on Twitter @ncs or subscribe to NCSYes channel on YouTube.
*To view the independent 2011 evaluation please go to http://www.natcen.ac.uk/study/national-citizen-service-evaluation
