Ambassadors - North West
One of the pieces of work for NTA, in which I and some colleagues of mine have been involved over the last few months, has been to look at the impact that entering and winning a National Training Award has had on organisations and individuals.
I think that all of us as ambassadors have a firm belief, often backed up by personal experience, that NTA entry and winning does indeed have an impact: which is a main motivator for us to continue to do what we do in promoting the Awards. Quite how universally significant this impact has, for me at any rate, been unclear until now.
Well for a start, we were pleasantly surprised by the response rate to what was, after all, a 'cold' survey mailing: four times what might be expected. Then about three quarters of those who responded took the trouble to add, in some cases, quite detailed comments illustrating what a positive difference entering and winning had either made for their organisation or for them as individuals.
Linda Ammon and NTA UK Winner - Bolton Lads and Girls Club Training Leads Youths onto the Right Path
When a young person is in trouble with sex, drugs and alcohol or they are at risk of dropping out of school, suffering from abuse it's hard to get them onto the right path in life again. Thankfully for troubled youths in Bolton, the Bolton Lads and Girls Club Mentoring Project has the answer.
In only four years, over seven hundred young people from the Bolton area alone have had their lives turned around thanks to an innovative mentoring scheme. The young people aged between 8 and 21 come to the attention of the Bolton Lads and Girls Club and are matched with a trained volunteer who mentors them through their hard times.
The Bolton Lads and Girls Club is a registered charity that has been a provider of services to young people in Bolton since 1889. Although originally established to offer sporting and youth club facilities to the community, the charity has become renowned for its life-changing mentoring programme since the service began in 1997. And its success has been credited to the training the volunteers receive.
