Member Article

Tragedy inspires cancer charity fundraise

A group of students from East Durham College have come together to raise money for a cancer charity in remembrance of a fellow student’s father.

The team were taking part in the government-backed National Citizen Service (NCS) scheme and have ran a series of fundraising efforts since they took part in the programme at Easter.

Just as the NCS group were ready to leave on an adrenaline-filled outdoor adventure, one of the team members, Lyle Dodds, sadly lost his dad to cancer.

Lyle, 17, from South Hetton in County Durham, was unsure whether or not to still attend at this difficult time but was encouraged to do so by his mum. Lyle bravely attended and had an amazing experience with the support of his peers.

While taking part in the NCS programme the team had to organise a social action project and decided to help raise money for Cancer Research UK, in memory of Lyle’s father.

The group took part in three fundraising activities; a six hour bag pack at ASDA Peterlee, a sponsored military bootcamp for staff and students at East Durham College and a sponsored walk to the summit of Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire. The group managed to raise a fantastic £970 which they have delivered to the Cancer Research charity shop in Durham.

Tina Lavelle, NCS Coordinator at East Durham College, praised Lyle and the NCS team for their hard work during the programme and the fantastic social action project which helped to raise so much money for a worthy cause.

Tina said: “The group have been fantastic from start to finish. “It was a terrible time for Lyle, but I was incredibly proud of the way Lyle handled the situation and also the way the other students on NCS helped to support Lyle.

“The way the group came together was brilliant and that was shown through the hard work on their great social action project. They raised a huge amount of money for a fantastic cause.”

Lyle added: “I felt so proud that the team decided to raise money in memory of my dad. They helped me through a difficult time.”

Places on NCS this summer are now very limited. To book a place call 0191 247 4020 or visit NCSNORTHEAST.co.uk.

Departure dates in the East Durham area include 21st July and 8th August, with programmes also running right across the North East. A condensed version of NCS will also be taking place in the autumn.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by NCS North East .