Christian Church, Christian faith, hard work, Stamford Hill, young people,
Tuesday 15th July 2014
Young people from the Finsbury Park and Stamford Hill branches of the Victory Youth Group (VYG), made an impressive start to the clean up of Castlehaven Community Park in Camden last Saturday, July 12th.
Their aim was to turn a neglected piece of land into a pleasant place where local people from the youngest to the oldest can relax and enjoy the open air, transforming an overgrown border into a woodland edge habitat. They certainly succeeded.
Sarah Ricket, the community gardener at Castlehaven, who is supervising the project, was impressed. She said: “Such an amazing change was done in a short space of time. The wildlife clean-up was faster and better than people expected. The youths from the VYG were fun, polite and enthusiastic. They made the day.”
The project, which is part of the Mayor’s Capital Cleanup for London involved cutting tree branches to open up space for a pathway, cleaning up the area and removing rubbish, and breaking up hard ground in readiness for replanting.
One of the volunteers, Shad Ahmad of Finsbury Park VYG, explained that he and his friends had to clean out sofas, fast food boxes, condoms and needles, as well as weeds. They cut back tree branches to make space for the pathway.
“We had to flip over the soil and soften it so we could plant some beautiful shrubs, he added. “I never thought I would be doing this, but the hard work paid off.”
Only one of the young people – who range in age from 16 to 25, had done anything of the sort before, and that was Crystal Banton of Stamford Hill VYG. But everyone echoed Shad’s view: “We had loads of fun and learnt on the job.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
UCKG is a Christian church and registered charity that offers a range of practical support activities alongside spiritual support and comfort and welcomes all-comers. It reached the UK in 1995 and has gone from strength to strength, providing support and spreading the Christian faith. There are UCKG HelpCentre branches in England and Wales.
VYG is the UCKG HelpCentre’s youth group. Open to 15 – 25 year olds, the VYG provides family-style peer group support and helps and encourages the young to be the best that they can be.
For further information please contact the UCKG HelpCentre Press Officer via e-mail on press@uckgnew.org or direct line 020 7686 6033.
