Young People Help Community Facility Open For Local Residents
Teenagers taking part National Citizen Service (NCS) ‘Keep Doing Good’ with Bristol City Robins Foundation are implementing their very own social action project to benefit people of all ages in the community.
The group of young people, who were previously strangers to one another until the start of the programme and hail from all over Bristol, identified the Leisure Village South Bristol (formally South Bristol Sports Centre) as the focus of their social action project. The facility, which has acted as a community hub for people across the city, has been closed for more than two years as a result of a serious fire which caused catastrophic damage to the facility.
The group of young people identified the Leisure Village as a hub of the local community and were keen to help the facility get back up and running as soon as possible to enable it to serve the community once more.
Following a meeting with facility Director Ben Ferris to identify the areas most in need of help, the youngsters set to work on their mission to rejuvenate the facility.
On their first day of volunteering the group of teenagers cleared away more than 50 sacks worth of rubbish from the centre’s outdoor 4G football pitch – an area which has been subject to significant trespassing during the lockdown period.
Following this, the group turned their attention to the centre’s changing facilities. The group of young people cleared out, repaired, and redecorated each of the changing rooms.
“I really wanted to help my community get back on its feet after what has been a really difficult time.” Commented NCS participant, Jamie White.
“South Bristol Sports Centre has helped so many people in Bristol and gives people the chance to engage in something positive and that is something that I really want to support.”
Director of South Bristol Leisure Village commented:
“The young people have been a great help in rejuvenating our facilities and thanks to their support we are pleased to say that we will be opening our doors again to the public this Friday (August 14th).”
Robins Foundation NCS Coordinator, Carly Price said:
“It has been amazing to witness how much these guys have achieved over such a short period of time, and how they have really come together and developed some really strong friendships.”
This Summer thousands of young people aged 16-17 will take part in ‘Keep Doing Good’. The programme is part of the National Citizen Service’s (NCS) ‘One Million Hours of Doing Good’, a wider pledge to enable teens to take an active role in helping the country recover post COVID-19.
