'NCS an experience to change your life’

Here the student of John Ruskin School, Coniston, sums up the third week of group activities.

NCS Week Three

Week three is another opportunity to learn about the vast expanse of amazing things going on in our local community. In Barrow alone there are countless organisations doing a whole variety of things to help and better the area.

The National Citizen Service has given me the opportunity to go and meet all these people and has opened doors to doing awesome things with them in the future.

On Monday, we met Casualties Union, St Mary’s Hospice and Barrow AFC. I was especially interested in the work of Casualties Union as it is something that I didn’t know happened in this area. They regularly help the emergency services in training exercises by simulating and acting in dangerous scenarios like a train collision. We got to see the makeup process involved in making realistic cuts and bruises and the results were quite extraordinary.

Barrow AFC spoke to us about the disabled sporting opportunities happening in Barrow and how to get involved. St Mary’s Hospice talked about how we can support the compassionate work that they are doing for people around us.

When I heard that Tuesday morning was going to be a visit to a waste management plant, let’s just say I was less than enthralled.

But despite one of us getting stung by a wasp I was actually quite interested to learn that all our rubbish is now recycled into products like fuel and aggregates, and landfills are now a thing of the past… even if it did stink, like really stink, I learnt a lot.

On Wednesday we had two courses at the fire station - of course with a Pizza Hut feast sandwiched between them. The morning was about ‘HeartStart’, basically learning the simple skills that we could all learn to save lives. Of course this involved lots of over-exaggerated dying and being forced into the recovery position, but I think all of us would know how to act in such an emergency now.

The afternoon was road safety, let me tell you, firefighters do NOT sugarcoat road safety. It was brutal. It was bloody. But most

importantly, it was eye-opening.

Cars can be dangerous pieces of machinery and it is so important that we drive safely and follow simple laws to prevent endangering ourselves and everybody else around us. If watching some of those car collision videos doesn’t open your eyes then I’m not sure anything will.

On Thursday we got a tour of Barrow Town Hall alongside Cllr Anita Husband, the mayor of Barrow - the neo-gothic architecture is quite astounding and I impressed myself on my knowledge of Barrow’s own Sir James Ramsden being the basis of The Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine. That afternoon, some lovely ladies from Samaritans spoke to us regarding mental health - more specifically stress, depression and self harm. It may not be the most jovial of topics but it is so important that we young people get the chance to have such discussions so I found it very helpful.

And now here I am, the last day. The morning was filled with celebrations and a witty and good-humoured awards ceremony; this blog even got me Team Hoy’s Best Author Award 2016. Or maybe me complaining about writing it got me the award? To complete our experience we all visited the Jade Fountain in Barrow together for a Chinese buffet.

Now if you know how the NCS programme works you’ll know that after our three weeks we have to complete thirty hours of social action to benefit the community. We have already launched our #DabbingAgainstDiscrimination page to try and end discrimination in our area and raise money for Ditch The Label, please check out our page on Facebook at Dabbing Against Discrimination or Twitter @DabNotDiss and drop us a like or follow to show support - we’d love that.

Obviously that project will continue but here we are, I’ve made it to the end of my National Citizen Service and I’m so sad it’s over.

I have been more than lucky to have been involved with the most amazing group of people who I will definitely stay in touch with, and I really mean that, I have made some absolutely hilarious and amazing new friends. I’d like to pass on my personal thanks to all the people who have used their own time to make our NCS experience memorable; be you John, Ryan, Jack, The Outward Bound Trust, YHA, visiting charities or anybody else! This won’t be the end of NCS but it is for now, so thank you for the memories.

‘Say YES to NCS; an experience to change your life.’ Callum out.