![Fairbridge Logo [Link to Homepage]](http://www.fairbridge.org.uk/team_sites/images/logo-de_cymru.gif){kind=logo}
World Class Patron
On Thursday 4th September, Colin Jackson attended a celebratory event in Cardiff to mark his installation as Patron of Fairbridge Cymru
The event, hosted by the Fairbridge Cymru young people, included a project marketplace showcasing the work and activities carried out by the Fairbridge young people.
Tim Powell, Chairman of Fairbridge Cymru, said:
“Colin’s track career was spent jumping hurdles at high speed, now he will be a role model and inspiration to help the young people of Wales overcome their own obstacles in life.
And there has never been a greater need for Fairbridge. 12,000 young Welsh people are outside Education, Employment or Training, many of them will never realise their full potential, and this is a huge waste. Fairbridge is doing much to change this, through the creativity and hard work of our two Welsh teams, here in Cardiff and in Swansea, by engaging young people and helping to give them a future.
Over the last 12 months we have worked with over 440 young people like Ben in Wales, and our achievements have been recognised with awards from national bodies such as Careers Wales, and major companies like Norwich Union.”
Colin said of the young persons charity:
“I came across Fairbridge through work I was involved in for Sport Relief, and I immediately liked the energy and spirit of the young people, and was impressed with the set up in Cardiff to help them get some confidence, build on their skills and recover their self esteem. We all need encouragement to get the most out of ourselves, and for a variety of reasons, a lot of the young people I met hadn’t received that kind of encouragement. I hope that my role as Patron will be able to inspire these youngsters, and that the charity can benefit from my involvement in South Wales where I grew up, and expand its services which are increasingly needed here.”
Young Person, Ben, 22, gave a short speech discussing his experiences:
“Before I came to Fairbridge I spent most of my time getting wrecked, drinking and taking drugs, or thinking about the next time I would be getting wrecked. I’d got into the mind set that that’s just how was always going to be.
As I look back on the time that I have spent at Fairbridge I feel like I have achieved so much. To name a few, the first thing I recognised was a real sense of motivation, for the first time in a long time I felt like I wanted to get up and get stuff done. With this came increased self-esteem and increased confidence in that I could achieve a future of my own deciding. I now see things in a different light”
