The ‘passing out’ ceremony took place this morning for the young volunteers who have been working hard over the last couple of months to improve the facilities at King George V Park, and learning new skills while they were at it.
The youngsters all got placements to build footpaths, wrench out railway sleepers which were in the wrong place, construct and instal new gates and generally make this a much nicer place for local children to visit. They have also installed an outdoor table tennis table, which was a tricky part of the workload as they had to level off the ground several times before they got it right.
Many groups were involved in this work:- Action for Children is the charity who helped direct the young people during the work, Rathbone is the training company who helped find the young people to take part, Inspiring Scotland helped provide some of the money and The City of Edinburgh Council, Lothian and Borders Police and the local community have also all played their part. We reported how this project came to be set up earlier in the year.
Local Judy Conn who is part of the Friends of King George V Park group talked to the assembled audience in the park before the graduation ceremony, explaining that even in June this year the completed project was just a gleam in her eye, and that she had been amazed by the speed with which the work was done.
Lothians MSP, Kezia Dugdale, was there to witness the completion of the project as the chair of the Cross Party Group on Children and Young People. She said:-“We are here today to celebrate the achievements of young people, and we are so proud of what they have done.”
Amy Solon is the Lead Tutor at Rathbone and she recognised the fact that the teenagers have learned not only how to build and paint, but have also improved their communication and team building skills. From their close camaraderie it certainly seems that they have also had a very good time.
Finally Willie McCann from the Action for Children charity offered many thanks to those who have given practical help all shown on the placards held up by the teenagers for the photos.
