King’s Trust students graduate from 12-week course

On the 9th of April a celebration event was held where the students graduated from the course they have been completing.

The course is with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Throughout the course the young adults learnt skills such as first aid and teamwork.

Sarah Quinn, King’s Trust team manager at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, set up and hosted the celebration evening: “they’ve come a long way since then.

“A challenge that the young people face is trusting in themselves, sometimes they automatically say I can’t do this, well yes you can, it’s as simple as that yes you can.”

Hyde 36 cohort were joined by 65 guests including family, friends and dignitaries including Madam Mayor Betty Affleck, who has been attending the events for 7 years: “I love coming to these events and listen to all the students and hear all of their stories”

As part of the course the group took part in a residential trip as well as community work, where they decorated a creche at the Tameside Women and their Family centre.

The students during their community project.

On the night the cohort completed speeches to the audience about their time on the course.

Owen Armstrong, 19 from Carbrook, was the first to present his speech: “Before the program I was doing basically nothing, sat in my room all day not knowing what to do in my life and how to deal with it.

“I had no confidence applying for jobs and low self-esteem doing anything, I dropped out of college after one year.

“On the advice of my mother I found the program online, I had zero confidence on applying at first, but I knew I couldn’t age 50 years in my room, so I went ahead and did the interview for the course.”

Robyn Mather, 16 from Ashton, also thanked her family for their continued support: “Before the program I wasn’t doing anything with my time, I was in bed all day playing Roblox or at my boyfriend’s house. I’d apply to jobs and either get denied or told I wasn’t old enough to work with the company.

“I found this course thanks to my mum and my gran who convinced me to give it a go.

“My cousin Mia helped me with my anxiety before I came on the course, she told me I had nothing to worry about and how to push myself to do anything I put my mind to, and to do my best when I came to the fire station.”

After receiving their certificates, the students joined their families in celebrating.

I spoke to a few of the young people about their experiences, the challenges they faced and how the course will help them in the future.

Rebecca Royle, 24 from Hyde spoke on what she will take away from the course: “I learnt to be more confident and believe in myself.”

Benn Lonsdale, 22 from Hyde, before the program he was in between jobs and wasn’t sure what he wanted to pursue, during the 12 weeks Benn faced his fear of heights as well.

He will take away many skills into his future career including the teamwork skills: “Building a team from not knowing anyone to being how close we are now in 12 weeks is incredible.”

Benn wants to go on to become a politician: “I am pursing a career in politics to represent the younger generation of the country because there isn’t enough support for them.”

Amy Hanlon, 23 from Dukinfield, she recently moved to Tameside after graduating from university.

Amy joined the course after being made unemployed at the end of last year and losing a lot of confidence in herself.

Amy spoke on the challenges she faced and what she has learnt over the last 12 weeks: “I am not the best at climbing, I’m not the best at this that and the other, but the whole team were very supportive.

“Everyone’s been really helpful, there’s been a few times where we have had minor arguments, but we got through it, and we are all really happy and proud of each other.

“I learnt to step out of my comfort zone, a lot of it was we aren’t comfortable doing these things normally, but we all did it and it has been really wonderful.”

Now the course has finished Amy hopes to work within the criminal justice system or community safety, after working with Tameside Council in community safety on a work placement during the course.

The next Kings Trust course starts on 6^th May, for more information on the course you can email futureheroes@manchesterfire.gov.uk