Young people took over market stalls in West Bromwich to raise awareness about dementia.
The young people are completing a National Citizen Service (NCS) challenge - a course for young people age 15 to 17 designed to enhance life skills.
The group has already completed an adventure course where they took part in adrenaline-fueled activities. They also spent time at university halls of residence where they learned to fend for themselves.
The other part of the course focusses on how the young people can help their community. The group were paired up with Dingle Meadow Care Home based in Oldbury with the aim of raising awareness of dementia in the local community.
The group arranged to hire market stalls and spent the day talking to shoppers in West Bromwich Town Centre about Dingle Meadow Care Home and dementia.
Lewis Shayler aged 16, was keen to spread the word about the event which lead to him contacting his local councillor and cabinet member for children's services, Councillor Simon Hackett.
Councillor Hackett said: "I was really impressed Lewis took the initiative to contact me about this event. It was lovely to see the young people so passionate about their cause. They were clearly having a great experience with the NCS Challenge. I want to say well done to the young people and wish them all the best for the rest of their challenge."
Councillor Ann Shackleton, cabinet member for adult social care was very impressed with the project. She said: "This is a great example of young people helping older people and raising awareness about the devastating effects dementia can have on people's lives."
Course participant Lewis Shayler, a student at Phoenix Collegiate, said: “We’re happy Councillor Hackett came to join our campaign. Our team has learned a lot about dementia and we want to spread the awareness further, which he can help with. People think teenagers don’t care about this kind of stuff but we do and that’s why we want as many people to know about our campaign as possible.”
