Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College’ Prince’s Trust 27 Team have recently celebrated completion of their 12 week programme with an awards ceremony at the college’s Phoenix Theatre.
Team 27, coordinated by Team Leaders Emma Krinks, Kevin Parry, and Development Coach Steve Dunnings, have completed the 12 week programme including their induction, team building residential (Alston Training Centre, Cumbria) which consisted of a number of indoor and outdoor events including orienteering, sledging, skiing, mining, navigation and even a fashion show; community project (a project benefiting the local community – renovating two gardens at the Birchwood Crisis Centre, Skelmersdale); 2 week individual work placement (Primary Schools, Nurseries, Garages etc); next steps week (preparing for the future); team challenge (working with a group from the local community and raising their own funds for the event) – taking elderly people on a day trip to the Albert Docks and Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool. Finally, the team attended their recognition awards evening which involved speeches about their experiences and how it has helped to change their lives.
In detail:
The team spent three weeks renovating two gardens at the Birchwood Crisis Centre and were kindly supported by many local businesses including Pendlewood Ltd, Newlands DIY, Hesfords DIY, Shepherds DIY, Warbreck Garden Centre, Midstream Garden Centre, Garners DIY, L&T Stone Merchants, The Beacon Rangers and Pet Paraphernalia. Team 27 worked extremely hard to renovate the gardens, the end result was fantastic and was delivered within the deadline. Barbara Mooney (Birchwood Crisis Centre Training & Development Officer) commented that “both the residents and staff at the Crisis Centre are extremely impressed with the time and effort that the young people on Team Skelmersdale 27 devoted to the community project and their hard work will be evident for years to come. The team have made a positive impact here and it was a pleasure to have them around the centre during the time that they were here – their efforts have inspired others to maintain and continue to develop the gardens in the near future.”
Following the community project the team undertook their team challenge, in which they had to work under strict guidelines to plan, organise and run an event for a group of local people and raise all of the necessary funds within two weeks. After identifying various groups of people within the local community who they would like to work with they chose to take a group of elderly people on a day trip to the Albert Docks and the Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool. The team raised the majority of the funds through bag packing at Morrisons in Southport.
Team Leader, Emma Krinks exclaimed “I am extremely proud of the performance of Team Skelmersdale 27. They have conquered every challenge which they were presented with and completed the programme as a true team, supporting each other and developing valuable skills along the way. I wish all of the members of Team 27 all the very best in their future careers and I would also like to thank Steve Dunnings (Team Skelmersdale 27’s Development Coach) for the exceptional support he has given to the team during the past 12 weeks. I would also like to thank the many local businesses in and around the community for their support and generosity.”
The college is now looking to recruit young people aged 16-25 to join the next Prince’s Trust Team. The main aim of the team programme is for the young person to uncover hidden talents, boost their self-esteem and improve confidence. At the end of the 12 week course the young person will leave with new skills, valuable experiences and qualifications to help get them into work, education or training (more than 75% of the young people who attended the Prince’s Trust programme last year have progressed onto on of these positive routes).
The team is usually made up of 12-15 young people with different skills, abilities and backgrounds, giving team members the opportunity to mix with new people, make new friends and do something positive for the community.
Anybody who is interested in joining the Prince’s Trust Programme please contact the Prince’s Trust Team at Skelmersdale & Ormskirk College on 01695 52344 or 07786 361675.