Friday Favourites - My NCS Experience

Last year I took part in NCS (National Citizenship Service) which was a scheme that allowed people from schools across areas to join together in team activities and charity work. At the start of Sixth Form I was and still am very quiet. I wanted to improve my confidence and decided to join the scheme. A good coincidence is that some of my friends also joined the scheme, which is good as at least I knew some people. The scheme took place during half-term which gave us a break after the start of A-Levels. I thought I would share some of the memories with you.

We went on a residential and were put into groups. At first I only knew one person in the group, but by the end we all knew each other. We took part in a range of activities, such as team trust, archery, rifle shooting, raft building and quad biking. I was also lucky to have a good group of people in my room, who I can call friends. There were eight girls in a room sharing one small bathroom... bit of a problem at times but we coped. We called ourselves the Narnians as we were in the 'Narnia room'. Each night we all sat in our room play card games and sharing sweets. Once we all laughed so much that we were heard by the rest of the group. It was a great way to spend the evening and most of us didn't miss having internet or phone signal.

One of my favourite memories was when we had no electricity for over twenty four hours. We spent our final night surrounded by the light of candles and torches. The caters at the camp even started a bbq as there was no other way to cook. We all started to sing spontaneously and very loudly, which started by one table singing 'We will rock you' by Queen.



An edit made by another member of the group

After the week had ended we started work on our charity projects. Our group met up once a week to discuss and organise our event. As a group we organised a fun run at a football ground which took place in December. Unfortunately the British weather was not on our side and it rained most of the evening. But that didn't dampen our spirits. A group of us were outside all evening motivating the people who were kind enough to run in the rain. We still enjoyed the event, even if some thought it could have gone better. We still managed to raise over £300. Not bad for six weeks work.

In January everyone was invited to a graduation where we received our certificates and watched videos from the scheme. It was good to meet up with people again, although some didn't attend graduation.

Overall I am glad I took part in the scheme as there are a lot of funny memories and private jokes that we still laugh about. Since taking part in the scheme my social skills have improved and my family noticed a good change in my confidence.

Most of the group at graduation