NCS Students raise funds for Age Uk Cambridgeshire & Peterborough.

Being a family club, Peterborough United champions work within the community and with the local NCS students fundraising and volunteering in the local area, Posh visited the Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, Orton Day Care Centre to see exactly what the students had been up to.

Callum Avent, a Community Coach for the club, has this week worked closely with the NCS students as they’ve collected money, taken part in a fun run as well as bag packing at the local supermarket, and created handmade canvases to decorate the walls of the Orton Day Care Centre that cares for the elderly. Callum has been proud to have worked with the group of students this week, and reflects on various objectives that the students have undertaken.

"We’ve been working on our social interaction planning; we’ve also been planning a sponsored walk around Ferry Meadows which went well on Wednesday with the sun shining down. The young students have generated £324.87 which has been donated to Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, while they’ve also visited the day care centre on Friday and that went wonderfully well with the handmade canvases brightening up the home and they elderly were very interactive when they met them."

With the elderly enjoying their interactions with the students, Callum explains where a proportion of the money raised was spent. "With some of the money raised, we purchased a Bingo machine that we presented to the day care centre which they loved because they all love their Bingo and we’ve had an excellent and fun experience all round."

Similarly, Michele Matthews from Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough noted that it was vitally important that the NCS scheme and its younger people as well as the football club have been able to work with Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough. "We’ve been really fortunate that we’ve been asked to come along and speak to them as they start their scheme and this is the second year that the summer group have supported us. We’re also quite close to Posh as we were their chosen charity for the year a year or so ago so we feel part of that community as well, so having the club and these young students involved is just great for us.

There was a happy atmosphere as the young people gathered round to speak with those living in the home, and Michele explained that the effect the NCS scheme has on the elderly goes beyond what many would expect. "Any contact is great. At Age UK we are very aware of issues surrounding loneliness and for people to come into a care setting like this it really is brilliant, but when you bring in the younger generation and share values, share memories and have a laugh that makes the situation all the better and they really won’t forget it."

If you’d like to know more about Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, then you can visit their site at www.ageuk.org.uk/cambridgesireandpeterborough.