DEDICATED teenagers helped to transform a waiting room at Dorchester’s Children’s Centre as part of a national citizenship scheme.

A dozen youngsters, all aged between 15 and 17, signed up to help out with the project on the site of Dorset County Hospital.

They got involved with the National Citizenship Service (NCS) project and Weymouth College.

In order to carry out the work, the youngsters raised the funds needed to install a new floor, paint the walls and provide their own artwork to the waiting room.

Volunteer Poppy Sibley-Hale, 16, said: “It was in order to make a difference to other teenagers who use the service. It was really rewarding and I enjoyed taking part very much.”

She added: “We even put up some of our own artwork to add a personal touch. We stripped the carpet, painted the walls, installed a wooden floor and put up new blinds. We raised more than £400 to carry out the work via a fundraising walk and a car wash.”

The teenagers came from all over Dorset including Dorchester, Weymouth and Swanage.

Other NCS schemes in the area in recent years included a project which helped to create a sensory area in the garden of the Ridgeway Day Centre, which caters for adults with learning difficulties in Weymouth.

Another NCS group re-decorated an outdoor play area at Southill pre-school Kids R Us, also in Weymouth.

Weymouth College’s Kien Thompson, who led the NCS team that made the improvements to the Dorchester Children’s Centre, said: “I’m really proud of the group and delighted that they’ve been able to make a difference for such a worthy cause. Everyone seems really pleased with the improvements that the team has made and the group took a lot from the experience.

“It’s great to see that the passion and enthusiasm of the region’s young people, supported by the NCS project and Weymouth College, is having a really positive effect in our local community.”

NCS is open to all 16 and 17-year-olds in England.