As the summer holidays draw to an end and children prepare to start the new school year, a group of dedicated young people across Helensburgh and Lomond are getting ready to celebrate the end of another summer of community volunteering and fun activity sessions.

Over the last five weeks, 70 young people have been giving up some of their free time each week as part of the third year of the GIVE (Get Inspired through Volunteering and Engagement) summer programme, run by Argyll and Bute Council’s youth services, the Helensburgh and Lomond Youth Forum and the Helensburgh office of the Argyll Third Sector Interface (TSI).

All those who took part in the community volunteering efforts earned themselves ‘rewards’ in the form of a series of fun days out.

So far, the young volunteers have organised a donation drive for the Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank, which saw almost 600 items donated by local shoppers, joined in Helensburgh Community Council’s regular summer beach cleans, and held a Random Acts of Kindness Day which saw young people asking members of the public to pledge a random act of kindness to promote good mental health.

The children also received fire safety training and helped to teach 150 members of the public life-saving CPR skills.

They also helped out with weeding, planting, raking and cleaning in the refurbishment of Hermitage Park.

For their hard work, the children will be rewarded with trips to trampoline park Flip Out in Glasgow, Go Country waterpark and X-Height amongst other treats.

Helensburgh and Lomond youth worker Ruth Cairns told the Advertiser: “The volunteering activities have been well attended and everyone has said that they have been grateful for the support.”