Endorsements

The attendance figures of the students are already seeing a rise after such a short time.

Change always starts from a place of discontent with the status quo. Given the challenges life handed him, Christie Spurling could have easily become another tragic statistic of the sort I dealt with daily when I was a police officer here in Manchester. Instead of giving way to despair he channelled his frustration into a hope inspiring, life changing charity. N-Gage deserves international recognition and dare I say emulation from those looking for solutions to many of the problems our society presently faces.

Using his own life experience to inspire and motivate others in some of the most challenged areas of Manchester and beyond. I have seen how young people can find a new start through this model of mentoring and one to one support.

I first became aware of N-Gage when I was working on a behaviour change programme in Burnage. We worked with the N-Gage team to engage with local schools around a Cleaner Healthier Burnage. What sets N-Gage apart is that they are truly committed to creating diverse and meaningful opportunities for children and young people. They have a fantastic range of resources, effective programmes in schools, fabulous facilities and wonderful staff. They create great relationships with young people and really inspire them to achieve, helping them learn valuable skills in a social environment. Christie Spurling, the CEO is probably one of the humblest and most inspiring people you could meet. His vision is based on a personal experience and a drive and tenacity to remove barriers and enable children and young people to be at their best. He puts his heart and soul into the charity, and it is because of his own personal story that he is truly committed to helping each child feel like they matter and no matter what they have experienced. He wants young people to know they can achieve their full potential. I support N-Gage whenever I can, as they play an important role in community and I want them to keep going and keep growing!

I have known Christie for a long time and have seen first-hand how he has overcome challenges in his own life to reach out to young people with amazing results!

N-Gage is a wonderful mentoring/employment charity that connects with ex-offenders and the ‘lost, the least and the broken’ in such a way as to give them hope for the future through solid Christ centred mentoring. Christie’s motivational testimony and practical resettlement support are exactly what my people need. I cannot recommend N-Gage highly enough.

I first met Christie as a youth leader at Ivy Church many years ago and was very excited when he founded N-Gage. Over the years I started to support N-Gage financially and would meet up with Christie for some informal, strategic mentoring over coffee every few months. After I stepped down from chairing Retrak, a charity serving street children in Africa, Christie asked me to join N-Gage as chair of trustees in 2018. Knowing the wonderful transformational work that N-Gage do with young people in the Manchester area I was very happy to accept and be involved in a more direct way in encouraging Christie as he takes the work forward. I’m so impressed with his hands-on approach. Having read his book, I am aware of the personal challenges of his own difficult childhood. He has lived the pain and I’m sure this resonates with the young people N-Gage work with and makes our work more credible and therefore more impactful for them.