Paul Gallagher visited Preston's College last week to congratulate dance, media and art students who completed the National Citizen Service programme with Preston North End towards the end of last year.
The pupils completed the programme in Autumn after a number of fantastic social action projects, which forms part of the four-phase programme, also comprising adventure, discovery and graduation phases.
The youngsters collected food to donate to a local food bank, word with the Space Centre Preston to fundraise and support disabled children, and conducted a Christmas fundraiser within the college reception, with £450 raised across their various initiatives.
In recognition of their efforts, Paul Gallagher handed out students’ graduation certificates at a ceremony at Preston’s College last week.
“It’s [NCS] a fantastic programme for kids in between 15 and 17, going into the community and learning life skills. It will help them later on in life and it’s a great course and I’d encourage any young kid or young adult from 15 to 17 to get on the course and enjoy it.
“These students have gone out and achieved stuff and raised £450 for charity, which they should all be very proud of. It’s a course that people should try to get involved in.”
Preston North End NCS co-ordinator Sam Livesey added: “With the support of the staff that we had on dance, media and art, and the support of the college behind us, that £450 is absolutely massive.
“What’s even more important is that young people are giving back to their community and it’s great to see that if you give them the tools, they are more than willing and capable of doing it.
“[To have] such an important figure of the club [attending], who can really understand the work that we do in the community and the importance that the club has in the local area, is fantastic.”
We are holding our annual NCS matchday at Deepdale this Saturday, where we will be raising awareness of Congenital Heart Disease and fundraising for Heartbeat.