SUPPORT

Forgewood Holdings Ltd. now provides financial support for any projects that serve to address our objectives with regard to the area and its residents. This can include organisations out with the area which include Forgewood residents in their operational area.

We will not be involved with the management of the projects supported simply providing funding at a sufficient level to allow the project to proceed.

We will, however, insist on receiving reports on progress for the larger projects.

Applying organisations must make every attempt to raise funding themselves and where there is any responsibility for the public sector (e.g. North Lanarkshire Council) to become involved this must be tried first before applying to Forgewood Holdings.

As can be seen in the ‘Beneficiaries’ section, Forgewood Holdings has provided grant support to a wide range of organisations and projects. Forgewood Holdings has been supporting projects in the Forgewood area of Motherwell for almost 5 years, following the closure of its trading operations, and just passed the key milestone of having provided grants of over £250,000.

Projects supported have been targeted variously at social isolation, developing the young workforce, over 50’s friends and fitness classes as well as providing funds for projects in all of the local schools.

The latest project was the recently completed Outdoor Classroom with Musical Instruments for Cathedral Primary School which follows the Trim Trail and Awning already supported by the Charity.

The Outdoor Classroom was financed by the school’s own fundraising group with support from Forgewood Holdings at a total cost of £17,685. Maria Shields, Head Teacher, stated at the recent launch of the new classroom.

Our outdoor classroom and orchestra will offer a whole new world indeed providing opportunities to:

• develop skills, knowledge and understanding in a meaningful context
• act as a rich stimulus for creative thinking and learning
• challenge, enquiry, critical thinking, reflection and thinking skills
• learn in a less structured environment, providing a different learning experience from that of the classroom be outdoors in a more relaxing learning environment
• provide opportunities for those who may not get that experience to be outdoors’

As can be seen from some of the photographs on this website we have provided a bus and equipment for the Forgewood Amateur Boxing Club; equipment for the Under 12 Children’s Group; laptops for Muir Street Primary School; fitness classes for the over 50’s; and several projects for St. Andrews Hospice.

Two key successes have been through our support for Forgewood Housing Co-operative to address Social Isolation in the area and the Developing the Young Workforce.

Social Isolation is being tackled by taking residents to a variety of outings to encourage integration in the area and to make better use of the Community Centre. Over 30 residents have been involved since December 2017 and the results have been very positive.

Braidhurst High School in partnership with Forgewood Housing Cooperative and Forgewood Holdings successfully rolled out a new initiative that will ensure accredited workplace skills for Nat 4 pupils.

The week long ‘Developing the Young Workforce’ programme at Forgewood Community Centre provided the young students with training in First Aid and Food Hygiene, while also providing them with valuable information that will help them make positive choices in their everyday lives.

Partners involved in providing workshops for the young people included Routes to Work, Landed, the British Army, the HUB, Ace Training, Lanarkshire Credit Union, Motherwell Football Club, and NLC Community Learning and Development.

Due to the huge success of the programme, additional partners involved in assisting young people to have the skills that will enable them to enter the job market have already shown an interest and are keen to provide further workshops for the benefit of the young people.

The programme which ran initially in May 2018 with 36 participants resulted in all 36 gaining accredited qualifications, 4 participants being offered employment and a number of other participants being offered an extended work placement.