Working in teams to build up a spaghetti tower was a key highlight of the day, where the aim was to create the tallest tower which could balance a marshmallow on top - using only straws of spaghetti, string, tape and their own imagination to develop their building.
Our very own NCS leader, Tom said: “It’s great, all the groups are getting on together, all getting involved with loads of challenges and learning tons of new skills but they’re all having fun and that’s the main thing here.”
This was followed the next day by a demonstration on healthy eating on a budget, where our young people were educated on how to balance a healthy diet and understand the different nutrients that keep the body going, all while also having a chance to get some homemade sausage risotto!
The third day of the week was taken up by a trip to Allerton towers in Liverpool where Merseyside Youth Challenge Trust had a whole host of activities lined up for the young people to take part in.
Activities were organised to help build confidence, communication and teamwork such as orienteering, archery, nightline and a whole host of rope bridges for participants to work together as a team to complete the challenges in front of them.
Speaking with Project Manager Geoff from Merseyside Challenge Youth Trust, he said: “They’ve come in and done a combination of team building and adventure exercises, some are more fun while others are designed to develop communication and as far as I can tell, everyone has had a great day so far here with us!”
Come Thursday, they spent the first half of the day taking part in an enterprise business task, where our NCS participants had to work together in teams to develop ideas for an app that's main goal is to benefit the local community in some way.
They went on to present their ideas to a panel of judges in the form of a ‘Dragon's Den’ style pitch where they displayed their presentation skills as they showed off their ideas and plans they built together as a team.
In the afternoon they were visited by James from 'Gambling with Lives' who spoke with the young people here about the dangers of gambling and the problems that addiction can cause.
Speaking from his own personal struggles with gambling addiction, he showed how easily a gambling addiction can develop, the effects it can have, but most importantly, the different avenues of support that’s available to those who are struggling.
James spoke about the talk he gave, saying: “It’s gone really well with some great engagement, we’ve talked about the gambling industry, the products, practices and the relationship between gambling and football and it’s been really impactful and It’s always good to get the message out to young people about this.”
On Friday, NCS participants spent their time planning out their ideas of what they’d like to do to help the local community as a part of their social action plan work next week. Ideas came through such as volunteering to help clean Prenton Park, a sponsored walk across New Brighton or supporting food banks across the wirral.Speaking with Tom about how the week has been, he said: “It’s been great, the young people have come out of their shells, made good friends and they’re all getting on. All the activities are bringing them confidence and they seem to be really enjoying it which is great to see!”
We’ll be keeping up with the rest of our NCS participants next week to see what work they get up to as a part of their social action plans so make sure to follow along on the Tranmere In The Community social channels!