Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, met some of the young people taking part in this year’s National Citizen Service in Alnwick this week.

National Citizen Service (NCS) is a scheme for 15-17 year olds, which involves challenges, voluntary work and the building of skills to prepare young people for adult life. Introduced in 2011, the scheme has grown in popularity and over 275,000 young people have taken part. NCS is becoming a rite of passage for teenagers all over Britain, helping them mix with people from different backgrounds and learn to work together - pushing themselves further than they ever thought possible.

Mrs Trevelyan visited the local group at Alnwick Community Centre and met youngers participating in their social action week.

Having seen for herself the types of projects on offer and talked to the young people taking part this year, Anne-Marie said:

“NCS in Northumberland continues to go from strength to strength. It was fantastic to see this year’s team taking on outdoor and personal challenges – growing as individuals and working together on projects to improve our county.”

NCS is now the fastest growing youth movement in the country, with a 46 per cent rise in the number of participants between 2013 and 2014. The Cabinet Office settlement last autumn included funding for the expansion of NCS, to deliver up to 300,000 places by 2019-20.