Ludlow youth training scheme is put on hold (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Ludlow youth training scheme is put on hold

8:00am Monday 14th January 2013 in News By Adrian Kibbler

A PLAN for a new training facility for young people in Ludlow has had to be put on ice.

Hopes that a workshop for young woodworkers would be up and running have constantly been thwarted and now the man behind the project has conceded that it will not go ahead in the foreseeable future.

The Skill Builders initiative of fers training for young artisans and craftspeople in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

It is run as a ‘not for profit’ business by Graeme Perks who was trained at the London School of Furniture and is best known for its work with young chefs in Ludlow and Tenbury.

An ambitious plan to set up a workshop in which young people would make and repair furniture was launched two years ago.

It received an initial setback when a bid for funding from Shropshire Council’s Market Towns Re generation fund was rejected. Instead, Shropshire Council decided to back the failed Ludlow Town Council bid for Heritage Lottery Funding.

This leaves more than £100,000 unspent and a second deadline due to run out early this year.

Skill Builders has been able to secure some woodworking equipment from Shropshire Council but hopes of being allocated workshop space in redundant buildings on the Coder Road site have drawn a blank.

“It is clear that we are not going to secure any space from Shropshire Council in the foreseeable future,”

said Graeme.

If the plan had gone ahead young people would not only have learned skills but would also have gained knowledge of running a small business as the idea was to sell benches and other furniture made as part of the project.

But Graeme says that the scheme is dormant, not dead, and it is planned to use Skill Builders to repair footpath fences and gates as part of the Ludlow Welcomes Walkers initiative.