Last Thursday (26th November 2015) we attended the Children and Young People Now awards at the Hurlingham Club in London. We were one of 3 finalists in the National Citizen Service category with our entry, #HandsOnEars; a social action project from our Durham NCS Summer 2014 programme.
The team of 15 young people raised awareness for profound hearing loss as team member, Lewis Oxley, has a younger brother who lost his hearing at 18 months. The team set up awareness days, created a song and even made a music video to accompany it. To read more about the #HandsOnEars campaign click here.
It was such a proud moment to be short-listed for the award and though #HandsOnEars didn’t win, the experience, especially for those young people behind the social action project, is one that will stay with them forever.
But the trip didn’t end as the UFA team left the glitzy River Thames venue and headed back to their hotel. The following morning our Durham NCS cohort were whisked off to meet Roberta Blackman- Woods, MP for City of Durham, and enjoyed a guided tour of the houses of parliament. Pauline Vipond, Project Manager for Durham commented “The whole experience was fantastic and it really inspired us all – myself included! I’m so glad we were able to bring this opportunity to all the young people involved; every one of them said it was a once in a lifetime experience.”
The awards night and trip to parliament was a fantastic opportunity for us to celebrate the achievements of the young people we work with and show them how amazing the work they do during NCS is. We know how special they are and it was great to see other organisations appreciating the work they do and sharing in their success.