He went pitch side and young people involved in the City in the Community scheme, which has been running hugely successful inclusion programmes across Manchester and Tameside for over 20 years.
Mr Brown chatted with Eddie Afekafe and Paul McCoy and took a keen interest in CITC’s Kickz project, which has won a string of awards for helping young people from disadvantaged communities get involved in sport, and which the Prime Minister helped establish in 2006.
Eddie (pictured with Prime Minister), who first started with CITC as a volunteer and now leads and motivates other young people, winning the Kickz ‘Inspiring Young People Award’ in 2009, and he said: “It was an amazing experience, he’s far more charismatic than I realised and was very friendly. It was something I never, ever thought would happen.”
Paul is a Level 2 qualified coach who works on a variety of CITC initiatives including disability football sessions, and he added: “He’s a great person to meet, it’s great to meet someone who takes an active interest in what we do and is willing to give a bit of his spare time to us.”
CITC’s Managing Director Sarah Lynch also met Mr Brown, and she said: “For the young people that met the Prime Minister today, the community work through either the council or CITC, has literally changed their lives. We wanted to share with him that we feel, along with Manchester City Council, that we can make a difference in east Manchester. The young people here show that we are changing lives in the communities in this area.”
