At the time of going to print, this year’s Italian exchange students had just arrived in Scotland. Teachers Cristina Brancoli and Gianca Pellegrineschi and 10 senior pupils from the Sismondi and Pacinotti School in Pescia, Tuscany, will spend a week visiting the school and touring central Scotland. During their visits to Clyde Valley, the Italians will take part in cooking traditional Scottish dishes and learn a number of country dances. This is in preparation for a ceilidh that will involve all of the school involved in the Pistoia – North Lanarkshire twinning programme. The Italians will also enjoy day visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as a coach tour to the Trossachs.

The friendships this week made will be reinforced when the Scots make the return trip to Tuscany in February 2014.

Three fifth year pupils are about to set off on an adventure of a lifetime. At the beginning of October, Ryan Burrell, Jamie Semple and George Wilson will join 3 students from Oldham and 1 from Devon to form a Skill Force work team who will set off for Uganda.

Last year, all of these young people were recipients of the inaugural Skill Force Prince’s Award. The boys received the award after carrying out renovation work in a community centre in Airdrie. HRH the Duke of Cambridge, Skill Force Patron, presented them with their Prince’s Award at a special ceremony in London.

Paul Craig, the school’s Skill Force instructor, will accompany the boys as they travel to Jinja on the banks of the River Nile. The boys will spend two weeks helping to paint two local schools and to upgrade their kitchen areas.

All of the young people involved in the Ugandan trip are being sponsored by the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund. Henry, a close friend of the then young princes, William and Harry, tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident, when aged only 18. The Straubenzee family, supported by the royal princes, created the memorial fund in their son’s honour to encourage other young people to carry out aid work in disadvantaged parts of Africa, activity that  had meant so much to their son.

National Skill Force Project Coordinator, Lucinda Elliott from Birmingham, Skill Force Scottish Director Gayle Adnyana and Andy Currie, North Lanarkshire Coordinator, visited the Clyde Valley group last week for a final briefing with the boys and their parents before the adventure starts for real on 1^st October.

Ian Sommerville, Clyde Valley’s Head Teacher, proudly commented: ‘Ryan, Jamie and George are looking forward to this enormous challenge with a sense of nervous anticipation! They so much to want to make a difference to the Jinja community and are already planning how they can continue their relief work when they return to Scotland. This is a unique opportunity for them. I am so grateful both to the teams from Skill Force and the Henry van Straubenzee Trust for making this incredible adventure possible.’

(Left to right): Andy Currie, Paul Craig, George Wilson, Lucinda Elliott, Jamie Semple, Gayle Adnyana and Ryan Burrell prepare for the boys’ Ugandan adventure.