Shrewsbury Town defender Omar Beckles paid a visit to this autumn’s National Citizen Service programme early this week.

Shrewsbury Town in the Community run the autumn NCS (National Citizen Service) programme and are currently ranked within the top 3 programmes out of 170 providers nationally.

The National Citizen Service programme is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for 15 to 17 year-olds to build skills for work and life, while meeting new friends and taking on new challenges in the local community.

This week at the football club, Shrewsbury Town in the Community had young people learning to drive a car, financial skills with Santander, gaining a first aid qualification and acquiring self-defence skills.

The next phase will then take them onto creating social action projects, which will raise money and awareness for local charities, which are close to their hearts.

On the first day of phase 2 of the programme, participants were met with a surprise visit from Omar Beckles, who spoke with participants to discover what they learnt from the programme and what impact the NCS programme had on the each participant.

Omar was extremely pleased to see what the programme offered, and said:

“I really like it! I definitely like how those kids are getting a real life experience preparing them for entering into the real world, something which doesn’t quite happen, and it’s bridging the gap, which I really do appreciate.

“Some of the personal stories from the kids who have been on the programme and the impact the staff have had on their lives is so good, just to see that Shrewsbury Town in the Community having such an impact is amazing!”

Jade Hibbert, Education and Inclusion Development Manager at Shrewsbury Town in the Community started the National Citizen Service programme at Shrewsbury in June 2015 with 37 young people and has overseen the rapid growth in the project, said:

“NCS brings our society together by building stronger, more integrated communities and fostering understanding between young people from different backgrounds.

“The social impact is that the programme builds essential skills for life and work, investing in our local communities future talent.

“The project was started here in June 2015 with just 37 young people on the programme, and now we are looking set to take away 480 people on our summer 2018 programme.”

If anyone is interested in learning more about the work that Shrewsbury Town in the Community do on the NCS programme, click here