NCS team help clean up city centre

The NCS Manchester team with Ed Milliband on the steps of the town hall

Yesterday, GMYN’s NCS Summer of a Lifetime Manchester team, a group of 16 year olds who are spending their summer taking part in team building residentials and social action projects, decided to stop their planned programme to go and help clean up Manchester city centre after the riots on Tuesday.

The young people are from a range of backgrounds and only met each other three weeks ago but have really gelled together. They were upset by the behaviour of a minority who have given young people a bad name by taking part in smashing up property and looting shops so asked if they could go into the city centre to get involved with the clean up.

Whilst the group were helping with the clean up Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour party, visited the city to view the damage done by the rioters. The young people were asked to pose behind him on the steps of Manchester Town Hall whilst he gave a speech about the riots. The footage appeared on several TV news bulletins including the BBC national news.

The team will now go back to working on planning and organising an event that they will hold in a couple of weeks that will celebrate different cultures through the sharing of food, music and traditional games.

Summer of a Lifetime is part of the National Citizen Service, a government initiative that is giving 11,000 16-year-olds the chance to learn new skills and get involved in their community this summer. GMYN is part of a national network of organisations delivering Summer of a Lifetime in partnership with v and Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust.