NCH young person gets a taste of parliamentary life with Annette Brooke MP at Westminster

12.00.00am GMT Thu 21st Feb 2008

A young person from NCH project Kingfishers, which supports learning disabled adults aged 18-25, had a taste of life in the House of Commons when they were invited to spend a day in Westminster with Annette Brooke MP for Dorset Mid and Poole North, and Shadow Minister for Children, in support of a campaign to help end child poverty.

Brooke invited 22 year old Tom Bonnie to workshadow her, attending meetings and other parliamentary activities in support of the 'Dare To Care: Make time to help end child poverty' campaign. NCH, the children's charity is looking to recruit 1,000 volunteers to a range of roles in support of the campaign, which includes inviting a young person along to gain work experience in different environments.

Brooke explained, "Tom has accompanied me to meetings and receptions today, gaining an insight into what the day to day work of an MP can be like-and how much a job can vary from being 9 to 5 and based in an office! It's important that young people and adults alike understand the variety of roles that are available to develop a sense of what path they may want to pursue in the future. I call on others to, like me, get involved with Dare To Care by volunteering with NCH in this way."

Tom commented, "It was great having the chance to spend a day at Westminster with Annette Brooke - it was totally different to any working environment I had ever experienced before. It opened my eyes to the fact that many careers are not office-based, and can vary lots from one day to the next. I found the meetings very interesting and enjoyed seeing the different buildings. Also the food was very good."

'Dare to Care' is run by CSV, the UK's leading volunteering charity and the Campaign to End Child Poverty, a coalition of 90 organisations. 'Dare To Care' aims to recruit 35,000 volunteers to give time to help children from low-income families, and raise awareness of the experiences of children living in poverty. 'Dare To Care' is supported by five children's charities, and NCH is leading activity on the theme of 'Money' in February.

Hugh Thornbery, NCH Director of Children's Services explained, "Work experience is really valuable when it comes to young people making career choices. As well as building self-esteem and confidence, it encourages them to think about career options that they might not otherwise have considered or had access to. By volunteering with NCH for 'Dare To Care' in this way, and offering a young person or a parent the chance to experience your workplace, you can help to end to child poverty for generations to come."

Anyone can get involved. Visit www.nch.org.uk/daretocare or email volunteeropps@nch.org.uk to learn more about NCH's volunteering roles, and visit www.daretocare.org.uk or call freephone 0800 284 533 to find out more about the campaign.