Last Wednesday I spent the day at Skillway, in Godalming to help and work alongside the staff and youngsters. This is a charity that I really enjoy supporting as well as joining in with all their activities...
The day started with me being handed a work jacket, goggles and being made to put on my toe protector boots - I was then ready to start my #LabourOfLove.
Skillway is here to provide support to young people who benefit from a friendly and almost one to one education rather than that of a classroom. The group I was with, around 10 students in total, attend Skillway once a week and it was great to see how much this place meant to them and to see their collective bond as a team. They were being taught engineering and woodworking, practical skills that they could achieve with a certificate which could be used in the future to begin an apprenticeship or work placement. This bought back many of my own memories, as I too was a similar student who qualified as a toolmaker.
I spent the first three hours helping them in woodwork where they were making toolboxes, kitchen towel holders, bird boxes and other useful objects. The buzz of saws and chisels being hammered gave the place a brilliant atmosphere. I was also very impressed with how the students helped out each other, and how quickly they cleared up the sawdust and shavings without being asked.
In the afternoon I helped out in an engineering workshop and was very impressed with the lathes, welding equipment, milling machines and hand files which were being used. There was no doubt that the skills they were learning will provide them with a future in mechanics, foundries or factories. They seemed very at home using modern materials alongside the more traditional metals.
I left at the end of the day with an enormous respect for the staff, showing great patience and teaching skills. All the youngsters showed various levels of skill but there was a very obvious level of enjoyment. They did stop for a drink but were impatient to get back to their workshops. I was asked by several of them to return at some point and they were telling me of their future hopes and aspirations.
Young people need our support, and I would ask for any donations to my chosen charities, in particular Skillway to ensure that this dedicated youth provision can continue.
You can give via my JustGiving page here. Thank you for any funds you can give…
To find out more about my year as Mayor keep visiting my blog https://mayorwaverley.wixsite.com/2021 or go to www.waverley.gov.uk/mayor.