Young people bring smiles to Lichfield with kind acts

Lichfield PCSO Liam Kell with NCS participants Daisy Hurcombe and Charlotte Cornbill.

Teenagers in Lichfield spent a weekend performing 'random acts of kindness' in the city centre recently as part of a national community-focussed event.

Organised by the National Citizen Service (NCS), the Action Day event saw the young people devote their time to "making the community smile".

Across the county projects included delivering doughnuts to the police, litter picking and cleaning, as well as painting a charity shop.

APM is delivering the NCS initiative to 16 and 17 year olds across the Midlands.

Project leader Luciano Narcisi, from Burntwood, said: "There's a pretty negative stereotype around young people, we can be seen as lazy or dangerous.

"Moments like Action Day help me and my friends prove that we're much more than that, we're keen to learn new skills and use them, and what better way than showing acts of kindness and making our community happy.

"Setting up and managing my own social action project is something I'd never have done if it wasn't for NCS but it has given me so many important skills for the future.

"My time on the programme has helped me realise how easy it is to just go out and meet new people, or even deal with pressure."I can't recommend the programme enough."

NCS is a unique two or three-week full-time programme open to all teenagers and is focused around fun and discovery, with participants volunteering at least 30 hours to a community project they create to address an issue important to them.

To date up to eight million additional hours have been dedicated to local communities as a result of NCS and young people raised approximately £1.3million for local causes in 2015 alone.

Steve Hart, director of employment services at APM, said: "The Random Acts of Kindness and other projects happening throughout the region help us realise that young people today are genuinely engaged, and really do want to make a difference."

For more information about the spring, summer and autumn programmes visit www.ncsyes.co.uk.