This afternoon The Prince's Trust and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will co-host a special presentation at the AMP Oval cricket ground to recognise and demonstrate the achievements of seven 16-25 year olds, the first to have successfully completed the Prince's Trust Volunteers programme 'Cricket - A Power for Good'.

The Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Claudette Hewitt will present the Lambeth College volunteers with their certificates of achievement, which contribute towards OCR Key Skills and City and Guild Profile of Achievement.

This pilot programme was delivered in partnership with PwC which has played an active role supporting a range of other Prince's Trust initiatives for a number of years.

Tom Shebbeare, Chief Executive, The Prince's Trust said: "The Prince's Trust Initiative 'Cricket a Power for Good' builds on another successful initiative involving The Trust and professional football clubs. With the success of the pilot at the AMP Oval, we now aim to roll the programme out to eleven cricket clubs across the UK in September 2002."

The 12-week course, delivered by The Prince's Trust and Lambeth College, is designed to help unemployed, New Deal and employed young people from the Lambeth area to develop the skills, confidence and motivation to help them through life and into work. The seven participants have secured jobs, further training, and improved their employability or promotion prospects as a result of the programme.

During the programme the team has successfully undertaken a residential team-building outdoor activity week, a community project in which they decorated Kennington Park Community Centre as well as completing individual work placements. They also took part in CV writing and interview techniques workshops and a 'final team challenge' - working with a local playgroup.

Although the initiative is not a training course in cricket, The Prince's Trust is, for the first time, using the power of cricket and its association with the club to harness many young people's fascination with sport to motivate them to join and complete the programme.

Paul Sheldon, Chief Executive of Surrey commented: "By supporting this programme, Surrey County Cricket Club is enabling The Prince's Trust to provide direction and support to young adults within our community. We would like to congratulate all those that have taken part and who are receiving awards today. The pilot programme has been a success and we look forward to hosting another team in September, which will help us to continue to build stronger links with our community and demonstrate that cricket can be a real power for good."

The next course begins at the AMP Oval in September 2002 and anyone wishing to join the Prince's Trust initiative 'Cricket - A Power for Good' should contact The Prince's Trust on 020 7543 1234.

© Surrey CCC