COMMUNITY projects could get a helping hand from young people who take up a potentially life-changing “Summer of a Lifetime” offer from the National Citizen Service (NCS).

NCS is a government scheme being run in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough by the Young Lives Consortium. They are offering nearly 200 free places for Year 11 leavers on the four-week programme during which they will meet new friends and learn new skills that they will then put into practice in their own community.

Young Lives are currently looking for projects in Wisbech that could benefit from these young people’s energy and enthusiasm.

The programme will run from July 16, starting with two five-day residential courses.

The first, with the Army Cadets in Waterbeach, involves a series of team building exercises. On the second, based at Sandlewood Farm in Murrow, the young people will visit and take part in a wide range of community projects, learning about their area and issues facing local people.

In the third week they will be based at Wisbech Library, where they will plan and develop their own social action projects and spend the last week delivering those projects.

The NCS programme is one of the Government’s Big Society initiatives, which aims to encourage young people from all backgrounds to work together, take on new challenges and make a real difference in their communities.

Councillor Steve Garratt, Fenland District Council’s portfolio holder responsible for young people, said: “This could give all sorts of local projects a boost. It is the sort of thing that the Big Society is really all about.”

For details visit www.young-lives.org.uk or e-mail Gareth@young-lives.org.uk