Since our last newsletter we have held our Help Yourself Grow Graduation for year 2 of our young persons programme. The event took place on Friday 6^th July 2018 at The Stables at Machrie Drive, Castlemilk. We hired the marquee from Cassiltoun Housing which we decorated for a graduation theme. It was a beautiful day and the football was on (World Cup), so we really weren’t sure how many people would attend, however we are delighted to say we had around 70 attendees.

Stewart McDonald MP for Glasgow South agreed to present the certificates to the trainees, alongside Jean Gavin from The Caley and Amanda McLellan from FS Training. We had a few short speeches including one from one of our year 1 trainees who had applied successfully to volunteer for year 2 as peer support in the Cookery class and now had moved on to an external volunteering opportunity – a real success story for the Help Yourself Grow programme.

After the presentations were finished, there were refreshments served, including the most wonderful cakes baked by our Masterclass chefs Kenna and Robyn (Go Cocoa).  There was then an opportunity for families, support workers and graduates to chat to one another, whilst enjoying the sunshine in the lovely Stables garden. Scott also accompanied a group across to our training garden for a comprehensive tour. They were all very impressed. In all, a great day was had by everyone.

Now we have the graduation over with, we now focussing on the recruitment of trainees for 2018 – 2019, as we still have places available. We are looking for young adults aged between 18 – 30, who live in Glasgow and have a learning disability. The training is FREE and offers the possibility of accreditation in either cookery or gardening. It also offers a chance to meet new people and have some fun.

For more information contact Gail Cochrane (gailcochrane@fair-deal.com) or Scott Green (scottgreen@fair-deal.com) or call either of us on 0141 634 4996.