Helston 'Citizenship for Life' project a success (From Falmouth Packet)

Helston 'Citizenship for Life' project a success

12:00pm Sunday 21st October 2012 in News

THE latest meeting of the Citizenship for Life youth development programme enjoyed fun and excitement on the rides at Flambards in Helston last week.

The programme, which is coming to the end of its second year, has been so successful there are plans to roll it out to the rest of Cornwall and possibly the rest of the country. The meeting at the theme park was the first step towards making this happen.

Citizenship for Life - C4L - is a programme keenly supported by Flambards management. Marketing manager Susie Hale mentors one of the 12 students from Penryn College, Mullion School and Falmouth Schools selected to take part this year.

Susie said: “It’s a fantastic project offering amazing opportunities for youngsters to experience things they simply wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. “It’s also great for the local business community to get involved, to work together and to make a difference to these youngsters’ futures.”

C4L is the brainchild of Charlotte Chadwick, Cornwall Council community network manager for Helston, Lizard, Falmouth and Penryn. The initiative is funded entirely by the private sector: local businesses, including KI Design and the Combined Universities of Cornwall; national businesses, including Costa Coffee , Sainsbury’s and Rotary.

The aim is to offer opportunities for talented youngsters, some of whom are facing difficult personal challenges, to meet with and talk to inspirational people and to foster strong links with the private sector - thereby enabling the participants to get a real insight into the working world. This year’s visits included trips to the Houses of Parliament and to visit humanitarian, Terry Waite. Susie’s protegé, Thalia Richardson, 15, who plans to study medicine when she leaves school, said that she’d found the C4L experience enlightening.

She said: “The trips have been amazing and we’ve met some truly inspirational people, particularly Annette Montague-Thomas. “But, the programme has helped me in other ways too. I have some trust issues but having Susie as a mentor has helped me to let go and open up a bit more. “She’s there to talk to - not just at the C4L meetings but on Facebook too.”