Army invites youth to work with troop horses

A south London youth charity is sending six of its members to spend a week with the horses of army troop units

A scheme to provide six London youths with a chance to experience army life with horses has been organised by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The fund says it is contributing £216,000 to 12 community projects of which this will be one.

The scheme, which will run next September, will be part of the London String of Pearls Golden Jubilee Festival.

“They’ll be staying in barracks in London during the week and will be seeing preparations for the State Opening of Parliament, ” said a spokesman for the festival.

The youngsters will be paired up for the week and each assigned a trooper from one of the capital’s mounted units to be their mentor.

All of the youngsters will come from a south London charity based in south London’s Peckham, which helps children who’ve been excluded from school to improve their communication skills.

“The boys are really excited about it, ” said the organisation’s manager, Oscar Watson.

“I’m not sure if they’ll be riding, but they will be working around horses. The idea of the scheme is about boys getting another set of rules, a taste of discipline and helping them to take part in that activity.”

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