Students at Colne Valley High School are turning old football shirts into reusable tote bags to be sold for charity.
The idea came from Premier League Inspires, a positive mental health and resilience programme, delivered twice a week at the Linthwaite school by the Huddersfield Town Foundation.
Sessions are held every Tuesday and Friday and are aimed at helping young people reach their potential by developing coping strategies to support them through life’s challenges.
This year the students entered the Premier League Inspires challenge, which tasks young people with devising a social action project.
The students had the idea to turn unwanted football shirts into reusable tote bags, which will then be sold to benefit a cancer charity.
Huddersfield Town and kit supplier Umbro donated some shirts and the club’s head of retail Luke Cowan visited the school to talk about his role and also about how shirts are designed and chosen.
Secondary schools education manager Jim Dyson said: “The lads themselves were shown what previous groups have done and they wanted to do something around football shirts.
“They were pushed out of their comfort zones and have really taken to it. For them to come up with all of this themselves is really impressive.
“They are tackling three issues at once in clothing waste going to landfill or just staying in cupboards, plastic pollution by replacing plastic bags and raising money for a charity they care about.
“It is really good to see the young people pick three big issues that the UK faces and try to tackle them.”
