The Challenge: National Citizen Service

In 2016 Guildford Cathedral was delighted to welcome students from the National Citizen Service (NCS) Programme, operated by "The Challenge"; the UK's leading charity for building a more integrated society.

The NCS aims to bring together young people from all different backgrounds in a common purpose. Offering new experiences it gives them the chance to take on new challenges, learn new skills and meet new people.

This is the first time Guildford Cathedral has engaged with the scheme and is a result of support from the People's Cathedral Project.

Gill Thorpe, Apprentice and Volunteer Officer and Kate Pitt; Interpretation Office, devised a programme for the student to produce a short film based on materials from the archive and oral history recordings from the early days of the Cathedral.

The film sought to encourage young people to visit the Cathedral and provided an opportunity for students to act, learn editing skills and understand the history of the site.

The students did a fantastic job over a couple of short days and the results can be seen on line at:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLcgXreGk18

Following their time at Guildford Cathedral the students sought to fundraise for one of the Cathedral's preferred charities and raised over £120 for Christian Aid.

We hope to invite another batch of students back to the Cathedral in 2017 following such a positive experience.