Callum for Mayor

As part of their work with Strong Voices, Tin Arts took the lead on supporting other organisations to develop Work Placement Programmes for young people with additional needs.

Here, Susan Mulholland, Deputy Director of Participation at Northern Stage, shares her reflections.

I applied for this programme to alleviate some anxieties I had about hosting a young person with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) on a work placement programme. The anxieties were mainly about ‘getting it wrong’, a worry borne out of our collective lack of experience.  These fears were soon alleviated by simply talking about it and having some excellent training from Daley Barber-Allen, Deputy Head at Thomas Bewick Academy. We then welcomed Callum into the company for half a day a week over a half-term. Callum was enthusiastic, receptive to almost all of the tasks (he was not impressed with postcode analysis!) and a little blown away by the complexities of the theatre industry. On our part we were blown away by Callum’s way with words and ability to come up with straplines and slogans e.g. when asked to advertise the Wizard of Oz he suggested ‘Have you got the heart/brains for this?’ Callum redesigned the geography of Newcastle as part of our Manifesto project and devised his own manifesto for the city:

“We will talk to each other: To ensure that we get the best out of the city”

It’s fair to say that Callum has won us over, he gets our vote. As I write this we are rethinking the structure of our whole work experience programme. It has made me consider why we do these programmes and more importantly who they are for. More people with Callum’s rather brilliant view of the world please!
Tin Arts http://tinarts.co.uk/

Northern Stage http://www.northernstage.co.uk/

Thomas Bewick Academy http://www.thomasbewick.newcastle.sch.uk/site

Philosophy and Art: A Very Creative Conversation

JonJoe Clennell is working with Strong voices as an Intern. Here he describes his experience of a Creative Conversations Workshop with Beacon Hill Arts & Thinking Space.

As part of my role I’ve been asked to write a blog about the above workshop which was held at the Linskill Centre, North Shields. Beacon Hill Arts have been working with Thinking Space to explore how Philosophical Enquiry can be used to support young people to consider their progression routes and, how the adults in their lives can support them.

Firstly, Will from Beacon Hill Arts explained how the day would be structured, introduced the team and explained their roles. During the first session we were shown a rough cut of “The Princess & The Bodyguard”, a film produced by young people from Beacon Hill Arts Film Academy. At the end the audience of mainly parents and carers were invited to ask the young people taking part questions about the film. I asked “How long did it take to shoot the film?” I was told that it had taken two days from 10am until 5pm, and was filmed at Castle Keep, Newcastle.

The young people told us what they had enjoyed about making the film and said it had given them the opportunity to develop their skills. A young man who had been involved with the programme since 2009 gave a presentation about his work filming with the BBC and Channel 4. He told us that the support from Beacon Hill Arts had given him the confidence to pursue his interests.

Will, (Development Director BHA) told me that the development of the young people and how they wanted to take it to the next level had really impressed him, also the passion they had shown for the whole activity. He said that Beacon Hill Arts wanted to make the environment inclusive and supportive for the young people attending the day.

The afternoon session was led by Grace, who is the founder of Thinking Space. The young people, parents and carers were put into small groups with a member of staff and took part in some facilitated discussion. Grace asked three main questions. What had the young people enjoyed about the project? What had they learned?  What was next?  Grace encouraged the young people to talk about these things in a supportive, safe environment, and it was good to see the enthusiasm of the parents during the discussion. What I thought was particularly good to see was how the young people wanted to use the skills they gained on the programme and take them forward into employment. One young person said she had enjoyed being in charge of filming and would like to use this transferrable skill to go into management.

I caught up with Grace after this session and asked her if facilitating these workshops with young people had changed her at all and how she felt about it. She said it was the second time she had done this for Beacon Hill Arts and she’d had to change the way she facilitated the conversation by using props during the sessions. She’d also had to dig deeper, ask more questions, such as the reasons why things were done a certain way, and to what outcome. She also thought it was good to see how much the young people had been empowered to make their own film.

I also spoke to Andrew, the lead facilitator of the project. He told me he wanted the project to be challenging, and he had seen the young people grow in confidence as the time passed. He had also learned from the young people themselves and he said creativity was a two way street. He’d had to adapt his methods of teaching and had learned from this.

The session carried on with everyone joining together to talk and ask the question “What do the young people aspire to do in the future”?

One young person wanted to apply to be an apprentice at the BFI, another person wanted to apply to college.

The last session of the day was where the young people showed the skills they had learned as part of the Bronze Arts Award. One showed us how to use a video camera, another got the audience to participate in drawing a character and choosing what it would look like. After this everyone filled in an evaluation sheet about the day and how it had gone.

I had a brilliant day with BHA and Thinking Space and would like to thank them for allowing me to be a part of it.

Beacon Hill Arts http://www.beaconhillarts.org.uk/

Thinking Space http://thinkingspace.org.uk/

Arts Award http://www.artsaward.org.uk

Strong Voices Digital Conference: My Review

JonJoe is a Strong Voices Intern. Here he writes about his experience at the Strong Voices Digital Conference at Sage Gateshead.

It was a day full of passion, ideas and reflection.

Proir to the conference I met with Katie Dowson, who was involved in organising it. I wanted to ask her some questions about this, and also her role as Partnerships Manager for Strong Voices.

She told me that the idea of an interactive, online conference came about as it would have been difficult to organise different events and it was important that all projects were included and had a chance to be involved. It was decided that the digital conference was the best way to forward.

The day of the conference began with briefing the volunteers. This was led by Debbie Little, Volunteer Coordinator who gave out instructions to everyone about their roles. Jane from the Customer Experience Team gave me a radio to keep in touch with the volunteers. The role I was given was official “tweeter” for Strong Voices North East, so my first tweet of the day was to introduce myself and tell everyone that the atmosphere was good and it looked like it was going to be a great day.

After mingling with some of the delegates, l took my place at my desk next to the tech team facilitating the online conference. This was right up my street and l took in as much as l could.

The conference opened with Katherine Zeserson, Director of Learning & Participation at Sage Gateshead, making a passionate keynote speech, during which the audience sang “It’s A Great Day” and the online audience were invited to compose a “Haiku” about the conference. The day continued with a seminar called “Reaching Out”, which was streamed to the online audience, as was the afternoon seminar “Diversify Your Workforce”. Delegates were asked to use their mobile phones to text in answers to an online poll, it was interesting to see how this worked.

Alongside this in another room   “Professional Learning” and “Progression” seminars were also taking place but not being streamed online. I’m hoping they will be available to view online at some point.

During the lunch break I caught up with a delegate who told me she was there to celebrate the work of Strong Voices, and to learn from other peoples’ experiences over the last two years, and while she liked the idea of a digital conference she didn’t feel connected to the online audience. She felt a responsibility to share the learning now that the project was at an end and wanted to know how she could do this.

The final Keynote speech was given by Pat Cochrane, Director and CEO of Cape UK. Reflection and Enquiry – The Grit In The Oyster, which was then opened up for lively debate. I felt strongly that some of the words being used to describe the young people weren’t correct, so I bit the bullet and asked for the microphone. I said that people shouldn’t have preconceived ideas about the young people they worked with, and people shouldn’t be labelled. Go in with an open mind as everyone is different and unique. I was nervous but pleased that I had given my point of view. I hope that all of this knowledge and learning will be used to move forward and be implemented in a real working environment.

It was evident that a great deal of planning had gone into the conference, It ran smoothly and was well attended. Hopefully the delegates left with some positive ideas to pass on and also put into practice in the future.

JonJoe was tweeting from @StrongVoicesNE  https://twitter.com/StrongVoicesNE
Check out @StrongVoices15 https://twitter.com/strongvoices15  #StrongVoices and #StrongVoices15 for more tweets from the day.
If you didn’t make it on the day, or want to catch up on things you missed, check out presentations and the online programme here

Strong Voices – summing up

Dear Strong Voices partner,

As you know, Strong Voices was established in 2013 following a successful application by the national Bridge Network, a group of 10 Arts Council funded organisations using their experience and expertise to connect young people, schools and communities with arts and culture.

Over the two years from 2013 to 2015 activity was targeted in five key areas of England –North East (Strong Voices North East), North West (Curious Minds), London (A New Direction), South East (Artswork) and Yorkshire and the Humber (Cape UK). It involved organisations such as The Customs House in South Shields, More Music in the North West, National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and youth organisations such as London Youth and Myplace centres in Yorkshire.

You were part of both a regional and national network aiming to engage and inspire young people by providing access to high quality cultural opportunities. Opportunities ranged from engagement in specific cultural activities (such as dance, drama, music and film), to work based learning opportunities (Creative Apprentices, Internships and Work Placements), celebration events, conferences and training.

Between 2013-2015 Strong Voices North East has worked with over 25 partners across the North East; cultural organisations, freelance trainers / artists, youth work settings, FE Colleges, local authorities, training providers and festivals. Projects were established both through dialogue / consultation and open access tendering opportunities. Together we have:

• Trained 400 practitioners
• Consulted with over 750 adults
• Supported over 55 young people into work placements / work based learning opportunities
• Consulted with over 150 young people
• Provided opportunities for over 420 young people to access high quality cultural opportunities, of which over 140 were accredited.
• Supported 7 young people into Creative Apprentices
• Supported 1 young person into an Internship

You can learn more about the stories of people involved in Strong Voices by checking out other posts on this blog.

Whilst the programme will be drawing to a close, our web presence will remain for the next 5 years. The website will store the stories, resources, evaluation reports and films that have been made to document the last two years. This is part of our legacy. You will notice more content uploaded throughout April 2015. Please link to web pages / posts from your website! http://www.bridgenortheast.com/about-us/strong-voices.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all of our Strong Voices partners. You have challenged and inspired us and provided a range of rich and wonderful opportunities for young people across the region. We do hope that any learning garnered from your time with us helps to make some new and exciting connections and steps forward.

With warm wishes,

Strong Voices team

Looking Back – Stepping Forward/Voices from the Past Inspire the Future

Strong Voices are delighted to have worked with No Limits Theatre Company.  Here, Janet Nettleton, Director of the company, looks back at one of the projects.

As part of the Strong Voices Next Steps Project we were fortunate enough to work with a group of young people from Venerable Bede Academy in Sunderland and share in the next steps of their creative journey as they explored new and challenging physical theatre techniques, Song writing, poetry and devising all inspired by the commemoration of WW1.

Despite the fact that it was a wet and windy Wednesday at 8.30am for the first of the twelve planned sessions the group arrived and got thoroughly involved in the physical warm ups and vocal exercises – which we all needed to ensure our voices filled the big hall! Enthusiastic to begin the theme we started with improvisation games around WW1. The group worked hard and showed innovation around the use of body percussion and physicality giving the creative process lots of directions for development.

It soon became very apparent that Music, Singing and Song writing would be an area that would be hugely beneficial and so drawing on the skill of Musician and Performer Hank Hayes in the delivery, the young people crafted a  beautiful and thought-provoking song called ‘Fallen Hero’s and poppies.’

Again in consultation with the young people about their preferred medium of presentation it was decided that a piece of theatre inspired by the song could be created and filmed, this film would then be shown to classes across the school. They felt this approach would give them the legacy in the form of the DVD and felt more comfortable to them.

The visit to the work with us at our base was wonderfully fruitful and their response to the space had a huge impact on how the piece grew and developed over the day. Taking on characters and roles which they physically created,  inspired by some of the initial Drama and physical theatre workshops showed immense progress and flow and they were extremely proud of their achievements. Their hard work culminated in a beautiful and moving dance and physical theatre piece representing lyrics from their song in a narrative format.

Being a part of each of the young persons’ individual creative journey was incredibly inspiring for us as a theatre company and as practitioners. Through strengthened partnerships with the school and the young people involved, we continually challenged ourselves and learnt new and exciting ways to work and deliver ensuring everyone’s voice and ideas were valued and included. It was a joy to see how their confidence grew, not only in their technical Drama and Song Writing skills, but also in the strength of their methods of communicating both personal creative ideas and challenges.  The development of their self- awareness and relationship building throughout their Arts Award Explore journey was evident and as the last note was played and the poppies fell, we felt proud to have taken their Next Steps with them.

Janet Nettleton

Artistic Director – No Limits Theatre Company
http://www.nolimitstheatre.org.uk/

The Work Placement Programme

Strong Voices are delighted that Tin Arts http://tinarts.co.uk/ have been working with us as part of the Work Placement Programme.  Here, they share their story of working with George.

George Williams has been dancing with TIN Arts since 2011 and has recently started a new work placement alongside his other activities.

When George was younger he attended Priory Woods School and Arts College in Middlesbrough up until the age of 18. Now 23, George is a regular performer with Flex Dance, a leading dance company of artists with a learning disability led by TIN Arts (http://www.tinarts.co.uk/flex).

Over the past 4 years with TIN Arts George has focused on developing skills related to dance technique and performance as well as building his fitness and flexibility. More recently TIN Arts have developed a closer relationship with George’s old school so it seemed sensible to explore whether we could create a new programme of support for George focusing on helping and supporting others to dance.

Starting in January of this year, George now attends Priory Woods once a week supporting Tess Chaytor, the Artistic Director of TIN Arts, to deliver a dance workshop with older pupils in the school. The group is creating a piece of work to be included in PULSE, a regional youth dance competition run by Dance City and part of a wider national competition called U.Dance.

George has his own support in place in the form of an Enabler from TIN Arts called Yuvel. Yuvel is there to help George to develop skills related to supporting and encouraging others whilst also ensuring George receives any help and advice he needs whilst being part of the workshop.

TIN Arts offer regular work placements both for people with and without a learning disability. Each placement is tailored and personalised to each individual. For George, his seeks to improve his confidence in working with others and develop communication skills on a range of levels.  Such transferrable skills will contribute towards future training or employment.

Funding for George’s placement is provided through Direct Payments that support George to travel to and from the venue as well as meet the costs of the Enabler from TIN Arts to support him in his development.

TIN Arts work placements, tailored for people with learning disabilities, are also part of a wider programme of activity, called the Work Placement Programme, aiming to create opportunities for young people with a learning disability to access placement opportunities within cultural organisations.

The Work Placement Programme is funded by Strong Voices* and Musical Inclusion** and is part of a wider agenda focused upon developing and supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable young people’s engagement with the arts and cultural sector.

The programme is supporting cultural organisations including Sage Gateshead, Northern Stage and Jack Drum Arts to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to receive young people with a learning disability into work placements.

*a DfE programme managed by Bridge North East    **a Sage Gateshead project funded by Youth Music

Being a Creative Apprentice (Part 2)

There are so many projects I’ve been involved with that I couldn’t fit them all in to the first blog!

ESF (European Social Fund)

ESF Community Grants provide grants of up to £15,000 to small third sector organisations. The money is used by the organisations to run courses or activities for people in hard to reach communities. The activities aim to help people gain skills and progress towards finding work.

Community reporting

This allows people to understand more about journalism, speaking out on issues that affect them, and to enable them to update skills on their literacy

YOUNG PERSONS CREE

Our CREE project is funded through Durham County Council’s Public Health Department and supports a young people’s drop-in group based on an Australian idea known as ‘Men’s Sheds’ managed in County Durham by East Durham Trust. The project is a direct response to the increase in the decline of the emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people and is aimed at reducing social isolation amongst those aged 13–19 years from the Wear Valley area.

• Cree is a place for teens to come to either chill and have a bit of space from their home life or to socialise with other teens and work towards a project and then they can show what they have learnt to the public or family and friends. We are currently learning street dancing, circus skills and graffiti, we also provide a service for the young people if needed to talk about problems, we have Cree champions who went on courses such as ASSIT prevention of suicide so they can provide a talking service if needed, but if the Cree champions feel as if they can’t do anything we’ll give them services they can contact such as Samaritans and Mind.

All courses are about social interaction, this helps people of all ages to develop social skills as well as recognising other people’s lifestyles, issues and thoughts which people can support and help make ideas come to life. Within this myself and other staff can help support them with any issues and if they have a disability we can support them within the limits of our own health and safety. I enjoy this as I did Health and Social care NVQ Level 2 at Bishop College, I love being able to help people who need some support especially through a creative arts journey – it’s like art therapy in a way. We get some people referred to us by doctors who have mental health issues.

Having the opportunity to be part of the structure of Jack Drum Arts as a Creative Arts apprentice is amazing, I was a participator within the youth theatre that is run through youth music and to be “behind the scenes” of what goes on is brilliant.  I get to see how much effort and time goes into the projects and now I can be part of the effort of these programmes for the participators.  It is such an eye opener for people like me still learning about structure in the business and how everything fits into place. The Creative Arts Apprenticeship has really made me think on how much of the process is done in the office by the staff.

The creative arts industry is amazing, and to be able to do an Apprenticeship in it is wonderful, and truly amazing, there are days where you wish you could just go home, but that is hardly the case as it’s new and exciting things near enough each day and it makes it worthwhile.

Charlotte – 18, Creative arts apprentice, Jack Drum Arts.

Being a Creative Apprentice – Charlotte (Jack Drum Arts) Part 1

Jack Drum Arts http://jackdrum.co.uk have been hosting a Creative Apprentice as part of their Strong Voices work. In the first of her blogs, Charlotte tells us about some of the work that Jack Drum Arts does.  Watch out for the next blog, focusing on what Charlotte has been doing as a Creative Apprentice.

I am a creative arts apprentice currently working at Jack Drum Arts, which is a local business that delivers different types of creative workshops for all ages.

We run courses for Adult and Community Learning, Colour your life and ESF. We also run a young person’s Cree group and a big Youth Music Project. Within these we have produced work either for a performance or for participators to gain skills, to have a product for them to take home and just to get out the house for social interaction. I really enjoy being part of Jack Drum Arts as it helps me develop my skills and lets me have a better understanding on how a workplace can develop as well as opening my eye towards the culture sector and how much the arts can help support vulnerable people.

Our courses are funded by:

ADULT LEARNING:

We deliver courses for Adult Learning and Skills via Durham County Council’s Lifelong Learning Department.  Courses range from 1 off taster sessions to weekly courses in drama, filmmaking, arts and crafts, creative writing and cooking. The following sessions/courses are run at St Cuthbert’s center in crook where Jack Drum Arts is based.

• Pottery; lets people update or create skills on pottery and also creativity.
• Felt making; updates their knowledge on felt making and having a awareness of the culture towards the process of felt making.

We have a wide variety of courses on offer in 2014/15 including Samba for Families, Family Heritage Courses, Pottery and Ceramics, Textile Arts, Pedal Power Cinema Filmmaking, Digital Storybooks, Filmmaking projects including a course specifically for women’s groups, Family Arts and Crafts and taster sessions in Pedal Power Film Screenings and Creative Walking.

COLOUR YOUR LIFE:

Is an Arts and Education on Prescription service funded by Durham County Council Public Health Department.  The program aims to provide free access to artistic and creative activities promoting positive mental health and wellbeing using professional experienced artists and tutors.  The program supports people of all abilities whilst providing opportunities for friendship in a safe, welcoming and supportive environment and is open to adults age 16+ with provision for family groups as well.

• Barnard Castle Hub (Barnard Castle Sure Start Outreach Centre)

Family Arts and Music this course is for parents and young children to come and have some fun, it also get the children involved in fun learning.

YOUTH MUSIC:

Jack Drum Arts secured £97,560 from the National Foundation for Youth Music to work with children and young people across Wear Valley over the next two years on an exciting programme inspired by music from diverse cultures. Jack Drum Arts is one of only eight organisations in the North East to secure the funding out of 108 music organisations nationally. ‘Sounds Around the World’ will sustain and develop more opportunities for regular high quality music making for children and young people in Wear Valley, widening the range of provision through regular after-school sessions, weekend and holiday activities led by professional music leaders.  ‘Sounds Around the World’ builds on Jack Drum Art’s high quality work with children and young people, particularly our 18 month folk music project called ‘Sound Stories’ (also funded by Youth Music) which came to an end in March 2013.

• Jackass: This is our youth theatre, which is on Monday nights, this gets teens involved into activities in the Youth Music sector and they develop social skills and communication skills. Everyone respects each other and everyone’s opinion.

Charlotte  – 18, Creative Arts Apprentice, Jack Drum Arts.

My Work Placement – Brandon

Strong Voices are delighted to be able to support young people on work placements, in partnership with Sage Gateshead.  We’re even more delighted about how positive the experiences are for both the young people, and everyone working with them.   

“Brandon had a very professional approach to all his work placement tasks and was a very quick learner. We really enjoyed having Brandon on placement here at Sage Gateshead. In fact, we were so impressed, we invited him back for second extended placement!” Debbie Little, Placements and Volunteering Coordinator

Below, Brandon gives an account of his (very!) varied experiences…

Hi I’m Brandon. I’m 17. I like to spend my time playing sports, listening to music and playing my ukulele. Ten weeks ago I couldn’t have said the last part. I learnt to play the ukulele at Sage Gateshead when Strong Voices kindly got me one because I showed a great interest in the instrument.

I was there because someone asked me if I wanted to do work experience and I said yes of course. I saw this as a great opportunity to do something productive and at the end of the day it was something I knew I would enjoy. On the first day I met Debbie Little and Jane Strachan; Debbie filled in some forms about the stuff I would be doing, then Jane took me for a tour of the building, it was huge and such a clever building – I loved it. I met a few members of the staff and they were all lovely. I started working with the customer experience team and helping them do their stuff.  Me and Jane had a great friendship and worked hard but had a laugh whilst doing the work.

I also took a great interest in the ukulele and we had little uke sessions every time I went for 30 minutes and I started picking it up quickly.  It was a great way to chill out and listen to something you have created yourself.

I also enjoyed working with the facilities team, they were really cool and had a good laugh whilst they worked, but they were serious in the work they had to do.  It was good helping them sort rooms out and know how to setup the equipment – I did this for a few hours and really enjoyed it.

One of my favourite parts was helping with Santa’s grotto (I was an elf for the day!), it was so fun helping to put it all together, I even put the star on top of the tree, haha. It looked fab when it was all done, me and Jane wrapped over 40 prezzies in 1 hour, we were top elf’s 🙂

I have learnt that working is fun and enjoyable and not as bad as I thought. The people you’re working with make the work a lot more fun, and the people at Sage Gateshead are brilliant.

I would recommend taking the chance if you ever get offered it.

Thank you to everyone who helped me out.

Brandon

Illustration by Robin Taplin, sketched from a photograph composed by Brandon

As part of the Work Placement Programme, Strong Voices are delighted to have been working with Marc Jones of Rose Tree Associates http://www.rosetree.org.uk/.  Marc has been instrumental in supporting Brandon to access opportunities at Sage Gateshead, so huge thanks go to him and of course, to Debbie Little, Jane Strachan and staff at Sage Gateshead.

Bringing Words to Life – Strong Voices Creative Apprenticeship Programme

Literacy and written word charity Bringing Words to Life http://bringingwords.org/ hosted a young apprentice as part of the Strong Voices Creative Apprenticeship programme.  Here, founder Melanie Cornish shares why she feels they’re a win-win for young people and organisations…

With the media in a frenzy about how our young people are not in a position to be employed when leaving school you have to wonder, well how can that be with so many apprentice schemes available to us employers?

I founded and now run a literacy charity in Blaydon, currently in its third year of trading and very much about giving young people a voice. Taking on apprentices, of which we have done three times now, has always been high on our to-do list for a couple of reasons. We are a young organisation and pride ourselves on allowing young people to work within our charity at nurturing their skills. At such a young age, these skills may not be apparent just yet, but by allowing them an opportunity to develop and grow, even if they don’t go on to stay with us as staff or in a volunteer capacity, we are aiding and abetting their entrance to the working world. If all they take from their time with us is the importance of time-keeping and communication, we have started laying solid foundations for that young person’s progression, not just in employment but in life.

Another reason we pay homage to apprentice programmes is the lack of provision for young people. Remembering back to ‘when I was a lass’, part-time work for young people was readily available and my weekends and school holidays were filled with shifts at a local hotel from the age of 13. Those opportunities are much harder to find now and can be compared to a hunt for a taxi outside the Bigg Market in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Apprenticeships are something we promote to any young people we come into contact with, as it is a foot in the door to what potentially might become a full-time job. That, combined with the advantages of support from organisations, such as Strong Voices, on tap throughout the process for the employer and the apprentice, mean opportunities such as these are welcomed with open arms from the likes of our charity.

While I can only speak for myself and on behalf of my company in this post, I urge anyone, both employee and employer to give the apprenticeship schemes out there a go. My first apprentice is now a full-time employee within the organisation and watching how that young person has developed over her time with us, not just as a member of staff, but as a confident, eloquent and dynamic young woman, I would be lying if I said it isn’t a ‘proud mammy’ moment. We might be a rarity in our approach to such schemes, as I am sure there are those out there who tried an apprentice scheme and it didn’t work out for them – we have bought that t-shirt too; but like with anything you have to take the rough with the smooth.  When you find that ‘diamond’ or that ‘diamond’ finds you, the ability of being able to aid the next generation in their quest for work suddenly becomes a reality.