At 10am on Wednesday 19th August, our NCS participants kicked-off a 24 hour football match, as the final part of their NCS summer programme.
Over the 24 hours, there was over 1,000 goals scored over 1,440 minutes poled and over 200 players took part in the game, which aimed to raise money for new sports equipment for Sir Tom Finney Community High.
Those involved ranged from 5 to 68-years-old, with the event having a real community feel about it.
There was a wide range of people involved in the game, from our soccer school children to our walking football participants.
Other guests included Bamber Bridge U16s, students from Sir Tom Finney Community High School and the youngsters on the PNE summer soccer school camp.
It was a fantastic way to round off the summer NCS programme, with a large amount of money set to be donated to the local high school.
Speaking of this summer's project, Head of Community Andy Haythornthwaite was delighted with the success of these year's group, and praised the NCS programme as a whole.
"For us, NCS is a huge programme, it's about trying to influence as many teenagers and kids as we can through the programme, and it's really important to the Club and it's a big part of what we do.
"This age group is a big target audience for the football club, in terms of getting them to Deepdale, engaging them with the Club but it's also about us giving back to the community and giving young people these opportunities to get involved and do something positive in their local area.
"We had a very mixed group this year as well which was great. We had a mixture of able-bodied students, and students with additional needs from Sir Tom Finney High, so there was a lot of hard work and interaction between all of the students to make sure everyone was equally included and got the most out of the experience.
"That's the whole idea of the NCS project, to give these young people a better image and reputation but also to give them life skills that they can take on with them to further education or use in developing their careers.
"We were successful again this time around, and we are still currently the largest Club in the North West in terms of NCS and this time around everything was given incredibly high inspection grades when looked at from outside sources so from what we've go out of it as a football club and what the kids have got out of it it's been a big success."
PNE's NCS co-ordinator and assistant head of the Sir Tom Finney Foundation, Liam Smith also commended this years group of students for their hard work and commitment to the project.
"There was 90 participants this year, which is our biggest group yet, and they planned the whole event themselves as their social action project, which is a big part of the NCS programme.
"They decided on the 24 hours football match, which also included other things going on throughout the day including cakes stalls and refreshment stalls, and that was their project so they could raise money for sport equipment for the Sir Tom Finney Community High School.
"The total amount raised is still to come in as it was done via sponsorship but they are hoping to have raised around £1,000 which would be fantastic.
"It's been brilliant, it's worked really well this summer and they've all got stuck in and now they are going to meet with the school once all of the money is in and provide them with some brand new equipment.
"It's really good to see this age group doing things like this in the community because they do get a lot of bad press. With NCS we give them the opportunity to express how good they really are and what they can do in the community.
"It's recognised around Preston, just how good our groups are and they've put a lot of effort into it and it's good to see that they've chosen to raise money for a special needs school, and it's been a fantastic group to work with."
You can get involved with our next NCS programme, which takes place this August, simply call our community department on 01772 693309 or email community@pne.com for details.