Dementia Carers win £3000 award

GREGOR FARQUHARSON

St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School S2 pupils have raised £3000 for a local charity with money from the Youth Philanthropy Initiative.

Around 270 S2 pupils have been researching social issues in the community and creating a presentation on a local charity they believe is best placed to tackle an issue they are passionate about.

Each RMCE class then had a class final to reduce this to a list of seven charities, which were put forward to the year group final.

The shortlist was East Kilbride Dementia Carers, Older and Active, St Andrew’s Hospice, EK Community

Food Bank, Barnardo’s, The Haliday Foundation and HCPT.

The work of all these charities was then showcased by teams as a presentation to the some of the younger students at the school, who will be taking part in this programme next year.

The school then held their first YPI School Final on December 17, in which winning teams from each class presented in front of a large audience and a panel of high-profile judges, in support of their chosen charities.

The chosen charity for the £3000 was EK Dementia Carers, which the winning group strongly felt provide a vital community service.

The winning S2 group consisted of Ellie Donnelly, Cara Johnston,

Aimee Mailey, Tammin Simpson, Lily Deery, and Holly McGowan.

This charity was personal to many of the group members with Lily of the winning group saying that her own papa, who has dementia, has reaped the benefits of the wonderful service”.

The money for the charity was provided by the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI).

This is a national programme where students can win £3000 for a local charity of their choice, with funding provided by the Wood Foundation.

Mrs Campbell, principal teacher of wider achievement, said: “This is the first year that the YPI project has been run at St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School.

“I would like to congratulate the East Kilbride Dementia Carers group and thank all the charities involved for the support and information they have provided to our S2 pupils.”

Brian Doig, group co-ordinator of EK Dementia Carers, said: “£3000 represents a significant boost to our annual funds and we appreciate all the hard work the young people put into winning this money for the organisation.

“Over 40 pupils have visited us, spent time interacting with our Service Users and staff, and demonstrated maturity, compassion, kindness and love in action.

“That generational interaction is something I have been passionate to encourage for years, and something our service users want more of.”