Danielle, from British Gas got in touch with us at Skills4You, a project ran by the charity, Home to Work, to see if there were any jobs they would like done on a voluntary basis. We absolutely jumped at the offer! At Skills4You, we rely on funding and donations, so the offer of donated manpower is something we were delighted with! So, what do skills4You do? We are a charity who focus on teaching people new skills through a variety of courses to encourage them take the next step into employment. We acknowledge that everyone has their own personal barriers they need to overcome, to allow them to be ‘job ready’. So, completing one of our courses not only teaches you invaluable skills that you can put on your CV and talk about at an interview, but also builds your confidence, reduces anxiety, and allows you to adopt a routine – essential for getting ready for employment.
Goodlives is a 1.6 acre of land that has been donated our charity. When we were first gifted the land, it was a remote waste land. It is now a thriving growing site, with 2 cabins, 4 polytunnels and a large selection of raised beds all full with a wide selection of vegetables and crops. Our biggest shame is also our biggest pride; The Learners have been helping develop the site for the last 2 years without any water or electric. We have, albeit hard to remember, a couple of long heatwaves where the this task was hard going – but the water was essential to keep things alive. Our Learners have been transporting 20 containers full of water from our site at Cleator Moor, down to Goodlives at West Lakes Science Park. When speaking to the Learners there was never one who complained, it was always “they are our vegetables, we will do whatever we need too”. This pushed our MD on, who managed to secure the funding for water and electricity which will both be connected before the end of October!!
British Gas came over 3 days and donated 14 engineers time to the charity. We were all blown away by the hard-working attitude everyone had! The pictures will show the team digging and laying a pathway around the polytunnel. This has a lot of benefits for Goodlives. Firstly, we don’t need to use the strimmer right up to the polytunnel minimising risk of damaging it. Now, the light can get into all areas so we can grow smaller crops without losing any sunlight. Also, the paths round the polytunnel lead onto the main path, allowing us to have some quiet reflection areas for our Learners without them having to walk over muddy areas.
Everyone who came worked so well together, we were shocked to hear they work independently as they thrived in the teamwork situation. The teams all had a great attitude to the task, and when the team finished their task ahead of schedule, instead of looking for an early exit they helped us install a water butt to help us not only with the last few weeks of no connection, but also in the future to help us be more sustainable and reduce waste.
Thank you to everyone involved, we hope to see you again in the future!
