South West ESF awards celebrate excellence

An award ceremony recognising excellence in ESF (European Social Funds) employment and skills activities across the South West took place on 18 March in Exeter. These awards provided an opportunity to celebrate the people and organisations that are making a positive difference to thousands of people in the region.

Award categories included ‘young achiever, personal achievement, employment and skills, personal contribution, workforce development, employer of the year, tutor/mentor and outstanding contribution’.

Winners included:
1) Jade Bingham (Competitiveness young achiever award) who received help from Hedley Hall Training to become a midwife by overcoming a lack of numeracy skills;
2) Dee White (Convergence young achiever award) who has progressed through courses at a Young Women’s Centre enabling her to build and develop personal and social skills through attending college and volunteering;
3) Conrad Hutchinson (Competitiveness personal achievement award) who set himself a target of gaining practical qualifications, skills and experience to start a career in community care and support;
4) Arron Edwards (Convergence personal achievement award) who received a distinction after training at Fifteen Cornwall, a social enterprise founded by Jamie Oliver. Fifteen helped change his attitude and his life.

Xtravert, a social enterprise venture set up in 2009, picked up the Convergence Employment and Skills Award at the ceremony. The Xtravert team received their award from Carleen Keleman, director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall who praised the social enterprise venture’s innovation and its success.

Xtravert, an innovative three month training programme, relates directly to young people not in education, employment or training, concentrating on their interest in carpentry and business skills. With an emphasis on craftsmanship, it closes the gap between formal education and professional carpentry. This training produces high quality woodwork from skate ramps and equipment to bespoke commissions as well as providing young people with the chance to build new skills and a career in the carpentry industry.

Three of the Xtravert recruits have been employed by the Real Ideas Organisation to run the Xtravert social enterprise unit, a carpentry business producing quality woodwork while continuing to run the training programme for other young people. Xtravert will be taking on a second raft of trainees later this year and continues to build its young team’s carpentry and business skills.