TEAMS of teenagers from across Blackburn and Darwen were faced with the ‘Dragons Den’ as part of a month long National Citizenship Service programme.

The challenge was to design a social action project to benefit the local community.

Each team had to pitch their projects to a panel of Dragons made up of Cllr Maureen Bateson, members of the executive team at Blackburn Rovers Community Trust, local business people, and a community worker at Blackburn and Darwen Council.

One team planned a pitch walk at Ewood Park in support of East Lancashire Hospice.

The walk equals the distance of East Lancashire Railway and is approximately 12.5 miles and 58 laps.

Another team pitched a ‘run, cycle and walk’ from Ewood Park to Derian House (approximately 20 miles) to raise both awareness and funds for the hospice.

The other teams proposed to raise awareness and funds for several other charities, including the local charities ‘Fight like a Kid’, ‘Every Action has Consequences’, Lancashire Victims Support Services, and Lancashire Mind.

The judges were all very impressed with the contestants and their proposals.

Cllr Maureen Bateson, executive member for children’s, young people and education, said: "It’s fantastic to see so many young people using their initiative and creativity to come up with ways to raise vital funds for local charities.

"I would like to say a big well done to everybody that took part and look forward to seeing their proposals in action."

Freya Buckley, National Citizen Service (NCS) Manager at Blackburn Rovers Community Trust added: "As part of the four week NCS summer programme our NCS participants have been working hard to create projects which benefit the local community.

"The Dragons commended our NCS participants for their outstanding knowledge and commitment to the local community.

"This week our NCS participants will deliver their projects for a total of 30 hours within the local community."