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ENGAGING EXPERIENCE: Trotter (second right) with youths from the BIGKID Foundation

OLYMPIC BRONZE medallist DeeDee Trotter and Olympic silver medallist Tim Morehouse made a surprise visit to Stockwell on August 9 to inspire young people there.

They gathered at London charity BIGKID Foundation HQ at the Lambeth run Lansdowne Youth Hub to hear the 400m runner Trotter and fencer Morehouse share their stories.

Although the tag line of the London Games has been to “inspire a generation”, Trotter decided that doing it from the track was not going to cut it and went out of her way to visit one of the less fortunate areas of London where the young people struggle with the pressures of gangs and violent crime on a daily basis.

Morehouse, 34, got wind of the event and changed his plans so that he could also make it down to the youth club.

BIGKID Foundation together with Lambeth local authority worked to spread the word at short notice and a crowd of over 50 young people who take advantage of the programmes that BIGKID offer filled the youth club.

The 29-year-old Trotter held nothing back as she talked about the challenges, defeats and comebacks that she has gone through during her career.

Engaging the young people from the first moment, she encouraged them to never give up on their dreams no matter what it looks like. “Hard work, honesty and honour” was the motto she repeated often in her discourse.

The audience, who had been sceptical to begin with, were truly motivated and inspired by the visit queuing up afterwards to get pictures and autographs with the athletes.

Chief executive of BIGKID Foundation Shaninga Marasha said: “To be honest a lot of the kids around here are not too interested in the Games. They feel very disconnected with society and with London so to have such high profile athletes who aren’t even from here come and inspire them was something really special and to me this is what inspiring a generation is all about. “

*For more information contact: Helen Marasha (E) helen@bigkidfoundation.org (M) +44(0)7799887215 (W) www.bigkidfoundation.org @BIGKIDCharity