Local housing provider Guinness Northern Counties and Bury-based furniture recycling charity RE>BUILD have teamed up to offer training courses including retail, warehouse work and health & safety at RE>BUILD’s premises on Park Road in Bury.
The work experience programme will be delivered by RE>BUILD, which already provides training at Bury to help people gain relevant and realistic work experience to improve their employment prospects.
Individuals taking part in the programme will do a half day of work experience plus a half day group session to improve their personal effectiveness, both at home and when looking for work.
The training is available to tenants of Guinness Northern Counties in the Heywood area and at the end of the training programme, individuals will gain certificates that accredit their achievements, proving to an employer that they have the experience and skills to do the work.
Liz Jackson, RE>BUILD Chief Executive, said: ‘We are very pleased to be working with Guinness Northern Counties and its residents. RE>BUILD have many years’ experience of supporting people as volunteers and 50% of our existing staff started out as volunteers, proving that volunteering can help people get back to work.
She added: “We hope that this programme will encourage people to give some time to helping our project, while at the same time gain recognition for their efforts.”
RE>BUILD collect donations of unwanted domestic furniture from the Bury Council area and also operate a Community Re>Paint scheme. The furniture is cleaned up and restored at their workshops so that it can be sold at a low cost to disadvantaged families. Alongside these services, a volunteering, training and work experience programme for people from all backgrounds is run at the Bury premises.
In addition to this, RE>BUILD has also recently run a bike refurbishment course for young offenders and a furniture refurbishment programme designed specifically for people with disabilities.
Allan Higginson, Estate Services Manager with Guinness Northern Counties, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Re>Build, this should be of great benefit to our customers in Heywood in helping them to furnish their new homes with affordable furniture.
He added: “The training packages available will also be of great benefit to local people who are currently out of work and looking for a way back in to employment.”