NCS

This summer I worked as a volunteer for the National Citizen Service, which I also took part in last year as a participant rather than a member of staff. We had a week-long residential in Gilwern and then Greenwich University. I found there are certainly more challenges when working as a staff member, however it was a role that I did enjoy. I enjoyed feeling a part of a team bigger than the participant group, I felt privileged to be included in staff meetings and it was great to only have to share a room with one other staff member with the added luxury of mugs and a kettle in the room. I must admit though that when it came to having to speak to participants because they were misbehaving or the like it was difficult, but otherwise the general vibe of encouragement and pushing them to do the very best was one of my favourite parts of the role. Watching some of the participants start off as very introverted or shy and then blossom into more confident and social people was a joy, and all of this while everyone (staff included) were having the time of their lives doing canoeing, rock climbing and caving.

Views from the mountain we all climbed

Fellow staff member winning group game of splat

Group campfire at the end of the week