“I’m a trainee police officer on a week’s placement… I didn’t know LandWorks despite living … I’ve got family in Totnes, so, I’ve kind of heard of LandWorks, but not exactly what they do. I did some research online and knew that there would be manual work and outdoor work and woodwork, but I … More Jack says: “You coppers are all the same, well, we’re not.”
I am a police officer, you get sworn in on Friday of the first week, so it’s all done and dusted, I’m working towards a diploma in policing, which is a two year overall thing and as part of that you have to do 80 hours in the community, so this week at LandWorks comes … More Rachel says: “You need to give people the opportunity to improve their lives and to live”
“Today though, I’ve got to make one of those Leopold chairs with Graham, I’ve got to make a bread bin for Chris… I’ll sort that out today… I helped Graham put that [picnic table] together, I can’t say I helped him make it, I mean I cut a few pieces off at angles and then … More Rodney says: “you just go into a different place…”
It took me two weeks to build it [the extension to the pop-up stall], it took me two weeks… if there were more of us here it wouldn’t have taken that long, I love it [here], I love it, I don’t want to leave, I have had so much stability you know, I’ve got so … More Matthew: building up to moving on
So Sarah came to me with a question… and asked me if I would teach her how to turn a bowl, which is something that I learned over my 12 months of being at LandWorks (ROTL) taught by Will… [Helping Sarah] I loved it, it’s quite a nice feeling, especially when they end up … More Graham: it’s quite magical
I teach the lads now to make wood products, bowls, plates, chopping boards, mirrors, anything out of timber really, candle holders… clocks, we make clocks… Rodney has made a bowl as well, he loved it… he got on really well with it… I’ve done loads now; I was never interested in wood turning [before], … More Graham: it started with a blank
I never used to like cooking did I? Me and the project manager had many like falling outs about, well only about three, over the cooking… because I’ve always said I’m not here to cook… but actually [more recently] I’ve quite enjoyed it… you know I’ve quite enjoyed it… I went through a stage, and … More Matthew: what’s cooking
When you’re inscribing it’s such a steady job to do… you know Graham was like ‘oh, would you mind burning that in for me?’ and I’m like, ‘no, no, not at all’, and then the project manager comes in and says ‘yeah, yeah, it’s for someone’s wedding’ and ooh, ooh the pressure’s on now… I … More Rodney: no pressure
I’ve been here 15 months… so I was coming out here on a ROTL (Release On Temporary Licence/day release) from the local prison for the last 12 months [of my sentence] and I think it was around about Christmas time [last year] that I noticed on the 5 year LandWorks plan… to employ one of … More Graham: from trainee to trainer
A window into LandWorks 