Those who know me, or who have followed this blog for any length of time will know that I care passionately about the care of the most vulnerable in society. For anyone engaged in caring, social care itself, or working with those with disabilities, times are currently very dark indeed. A government apparently committed to the destruction of the social state has done much to degrade the conditions and respect for the less able members of our community.

It was therefore with interest and pleasure that I learned of the Lichfield Scrap Barn project, an initiative springing from the excellent Saxon Hill School in Lichfield. Spotting early promotions via social media, I asked them to write to me explaining what they were up to, and offered any help required with publicity and so forth.

In October, The Scrap Barn will be opening a unit at the Chasewater Craft Centre. Image supplied by Lucy Wood.

Lucy Wood found time out of her hectic schedule to kindly send me a wealth of information, which I present for you here. I feel this is a wonderful initiative, and support it wholeheartedly. With Remploy and day centres currently closing, schemes like this will become more and more important in providing meaningful activity, fulfilment and socialisation to those for whom such opportunities are sadly rather rare.

My best wishes (and I’m sure those of the readers, too) go out to Lucy and all involved, and I implore them to get in touch if there’s any thing they feel we can help them with.

If you feel you can help these wonderful people in their endeavour, contact details are at the foot of this post.

Lucy said:

The Lichfield Scrap Barn is a brilliant opportunity for young people with a disability to gain valuable work based experience by being involved in a friendly working environment at the heart of the community. These skills developed whilst at Lichfield Scrap Barn can be utilised later in life when applying for full or part time employment in the wider community.Our team of volunteers is fully committed to making Lichfield Scrap Barn as successful as possible and that dream is quickly being realised. We truly believe that what we are doing is making a difference to the lives of all the people involved, not only the young people developing new skills but also all of the people that have made your beloved Scrap Barn come to life.

We are currently in the process of kitting out out new premises at Chasewater. We are keen to make this a colorful, fun and exciting creative hub and have been very busy working with other local Scrap stores to help us find our feet.

Lichfield Scrap Barn was set up originally to help the Pupils of Saxon Hill School access Work based learning opportunites, as it is often difficult for our pupils to find employers willing to take them on, The Scrap Barn forms a new approach and alongside plans for a Community Cafe and our Partnership with Wyvale Garden Centre, The Lichfield Scrap Barn will offer in house training and experience We are also currently intouch with the local authority to discuss become a service provider for Disabled People and hope to offer training and volunteer opportunities for the wider community.

The Lichfield Scrap Barn hopes to be open for business in October 2012.

If you would like to come and meet with our Team or if you have any questions and would like to discuss things in more detail, please get in touch. Please feel free to visit our website at www.lichfieldscrapbarn.co.uk.

Following a busy few months for the Lichfield Scrap Barn, we are very pleased to announce that we have some very exciting updates.

We have been busy, forging relationships with local Scrap Stores, particularly Derby Play and Recycle Centre and also Scrappies Resource and Recycling Centre in Shropshire. This has given us some great ideas which will enable us to provide a great Scrap Store provision within the Lichfield area.

Lichfield Scrap Barn now has a Craft Unit at Chasewater Innovation Centre. This will become a “Craft Resource Centre” where we will sell craft resources in the form of scrap materials which were once clean waste items from local businesses. Scrap Stores are a wonderful way for schools, community groups and parents to pick up very low cost craft materials.

Lichfield Scrap Barn recently went live with its new website www.lichfieldscrapbarn.co.uk  in July. The site was kindly designed by Stafford Company Offsight www.offsight.co.uk.  The site offers many features such as News, Updates and information on how you can support us, either by supplying us with unwanted items for our recycle centre, Art supplies for our new craft centre or Volunteering to work with our team!

Wes Morris, Managing Director said: Lichfield Scrap Barn has gone from strength to strength and I am delighted to have taken occupation of our new premises. I would ask all local businesses to think about what clean waste items they produce and contact us if they feel it suitable. We may be able to save businesses hundreds of pounds a year by recycling their waste through Lichfield Scrap Barn as craft items.

For more information on The Lichfield Scrap Barn please visit call 07791428762 or email admin@lichfieldscrapbarn.uk