Trades4care New Community Handyman Service
BEGINNING next month (March) Trades4care will offer a new service in the community.
Trades4care, a Barnard Castle-based CIC, is very pleased to have Keith Doughty joining the team,
a very experienced tradesman and tutor who will run the new handyman service. On all work Keith
carries out in the community, he will look to offer a work placement to local young adults.
Trades4Care, a community interest company, is a project dedicated to bridging the trade and
maintenance gaps for health care, social care, the education sector, local community projects,
charities and trusts. Additionally, it provides a dedicated home service for the vulnerable and elderly.
The young people will have the opportunity to put the skills they have already learned to good
use or come along to learn a new skill and hopefully gain some confidence. Trades4care believes this
new service will be a great addition to their successful decorating service.
If you have a few jobs that need doing that will take up half a day or more and run a care,
community, educational building or if you are unable now to maintain your home due to old age,
disability, illness – or if DIY just isn’t your thing – please do give them a call.
Trades4Care also works with and alongside Bridge Creative whose CEO, Ben Tinkler, has links with
Weardale. He is the cousin of the Gazette’s Editor, Anita Atkinson, and his company employs some
Dalefolk too.
Charlie Wright and Andrew Coxon founded the company a few years ago after both experienced
family problems. Andrew remains as a consultant but the day-to-day running is done by Charlie,
Deborah Jenkins MBE and Cameron Southworth who came to Trades4care as their first apprentice
and became a director at the age of 21!
Charlie said, “Cameron Southworth was 18 when she first joined the team on a project at Raby
Estate from Bishop Auckland College.
“Her confidence and attitude to learning stood out and she continued to come along to other
projects on her free days away from college. She was the stand out candidate when we started
looking at the possibility of having an apprentice.
“Over the next three years Cameron work hard at learning a trade while supporting other young
adults and our community.”
Deborah, a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear has vast experience in the well-being and mental
health of adults and young people. She was a co-founder of Common Purpose, Vice Chair of the
Mental Health Act Commission, Chair of a large integrated NHS Hospitals Trust and founding chair of
two new companies delivering chidren’s services, Together for Children in Sunderland, and Brighter
Futures for Children in Reading. Deborah has pursued an interest for more than thirty years in the
importance of manual skills for health, wealth and happiness, including running the Making Sense
project in the 2000s.
Charlie said, “When my own mother fell ill with dementia I became increasingly committed to her
care and helping older and more vulnerable people. At the same time, coincidentally, Andrew had
also taken a year out to care for his ill parents.
“We found a common understanding of the importance of our elderly care needs and the great
work that healthcare professionals do in looking after our families. They can be resource stretched
at times so at Trades4Care we aim to bridge the gaps between the lack of tradesmen and help that is
needed in the care and community sector.
“Having worked in the health care sector over the past few years I’d noticed that some young
people in care could do with a helping hand in gaining work experience, basic life skills and
functional skills. The same can apply to some students in colleges.
“ Deborah, Cameron and I are really passionate about helping young people reach their full
potential whilst helping the local care and community sector. We both feel that through
Trades4Care we can bring the young, elderly and vulnerable in our communities closer together by
enjoying what we do and bringing fun and positivity to our work.”
The new handyman service adds to the services thy already provide. Every project done in the
community creates an opportunity for local young adults.
For more information you can call Keith directly on 07983578831 or contact Trades4care on
07905027074 or / www.trades4care.co.uk .
Also see the Facebook page to keep up to date on current projects and the great work our local
youngsters are doing in our communities.
