“
The children loved having us there. None of us had done anything like that before and it definitely helped me develop personal skills, such as dealing with people in a different environment
Charley Whetton Unite member,
Toyota apprentice
”
chosen because the child of a Toyota employee was a pupil there.
Charley Whetton (pictured) 21, a Toyota apprentice, said people with different skills came together to make improvements at Holbrook School, adding, “The children loved having us there. None of us had done anything like that before and it definitely helped me develop personal skills, such as dealing with people in a different environment.”
Apprentices who
volunteered at Aquarius said they interacted with those being treated at the centre, believing it helped with their
rehabilitation.
“The way the Toyota
apprentices interacted with our clients, peers and volunteers is a credit to what
upstanding, caring and
genuine people they truly are. They have
made a huge
difference,” believes Jamie Gratton of the Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
And managers involved in the programme have been so impressed with the work of the youngsters that some have started volunteering themselves.
Shawn Walster, a training manager at M&S, said the volunteering work has revived his faith in young people – and changed him personally. “For the first time I have done some volunteering work as well!”
Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke has seen the volunteering programme at first hand, and is hugely impressed.
“The youngsters are working in a totally different environment and are learning valuable life skills as well as interacting with different people, giving them a good grounding in all aspects of the world of work, and the community around them,” he told us.
“It also gives us a chance to tell them about the work of Unite, so membership among the apprentices is very high. It is a great model, and a pleasure to be involved in such good news amid all the problems facing manufacturing at the moment.”
A notice board at the academy is littered with thank you cards to the apprentices, one saying they had shown ‘commitment and passion’ to their voluntary work – words which also sum up the dedication of Unite members like Sheila Rowley.
Find out more HERE uniteWORKS Au-
33
Mark Harvey
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