Growing well is going well for unemployed youngsters in South Lakeland (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Growing well is going well for unemployed youngsters in South Lakeland
1:20pm Tuesday 11th September 2012 in News
Rob Ablitt (front) hard at work on the Growing Well project
A GROUP of unemployed 16 and 17 year olds in South Lakeland are celebrating their success after completing a training programme.
The teenagers gathered at the Growing Well project, Low Sizergh Farm, Kendal, to take part in the Working Well programme.
It was designed to give young unemployed people free training, work experience and word class personal development.
Figures released at the turn of the year showed that youth unemployment had reached one million.
So the partners in the Working Well project - Growing Well and Ambleside-based charity Brathay Trust - decided to set up the programme.
Rob Ablitt, of Kendal, who took part in the programme, said: “The programme has given me a great deal of confidence and I’ve also found the discipline involved very helpful.
“I’ve really enjoyed the whole experience and I’m hoping that the skills and knowledge that I’ve picked up will help me to get a job.”
By securing a Level 1 Practical Horticultural Skills qualification participants have also increased their chances of progressing into further education.
Mark Bushell, from Brathay Trust, said: “The Working Well programme has given young people an invaluable experience of the organic growing business and has seen them tackle everything from seed-sowing and planting to harvesting and packing produce.
“It has been a great discipline for them and they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
