More than 250 apprentices from Glasgow City Council’s arm’s-length construction company – City Building – will take part in the final league matches of their two-month Legacy League football tournament today.

Recognised as a legacy project for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the final league matches will take place from 1.30pm at Toryglen Regional Football Centre on Glasgow’s south side.

Following completion of the Legacy League tournament, all 22 teams – each of which represents a Commonwealth country – will be seeded based on their finishing league position and placed in one of four group pots for the Commonwealth Cup Competition draw.

The draw will be led by Councillor Archie Graham, Glasgow City Council’s Executive Member for Glasgow 2014, together with the main sponsors of the initiative, at around 3.30pm. The final of the Commonwealth Cup will follow the group matches – which start on 10 May – and will take place at Toryglen Regional Football Centre on 31 May.

The tournament and competition are part of City Building’s Active Citizenship Apprenticeship Initiative, which aims to give City Building’s 500 directly-employed apprentices the skills, confidence and self-belief to make a positive contribution to their local communities.

A key component of the initiative is apprentices undertaking community-led volunteer work.

Apprentices have worked on nine community projects, ranging from the installation of a Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi) kitchen at the Royal British Legion Club in Glasgow’s Knightswood to painting and plumbing work at Oatlands Community Centre on Glasgow’s South Side.

-- Advertisement --

City Building managing director Willie Docherty said: “City Building plays a vital role in the communities of Glasgow. The Active Citizenship Apprenticeship Initiative is our contribution to developing and promoting sustainable communities and I’d like to extend a big thank you to all our apprentices for the time and effort they have spent volunteering on projects across Glasgow over the past year.

“As one of Scotland’s largest construction companies, we do a lot of building but in our case it is not all in bricks, mortar and timber. We help people to build their lives.”

Barclay McCran from Knightswood Royal British Legion Club said: “We are immensely grateful to City Building not only for donating a kitchen manufactured at Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries but also to the apprentices for fitting it in what is our 70th anniversary year.

“The work carried out by the lads was second to none.”

City Building employs around 500 apprentices, making it the largest apprentice training provider in Scotland. Its award-winning Queenslie Training Centre and Construction Skills Academy are the most successful apprentice-training centres in Scotland with a 98 per cent pass rate, compared to the industry average of 62 per cent.

City Building plays an active role in encouraging apprentices to make healthy lifestyle choices, which benefit them both at work and at home. The company has introduced a number of taster sessions for its apprentices to encourage them to try new sports including skiing, tennis, golf and basketball.

A significant number of the apprentices involved in the Legacy League tournament who do not currently play for a team have asked that City Building find them teams to help them continue playing football and maintain their new active lifestyle once the tournament and competition finish.

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow City Council, said: “It’s great to see so many young apprentices here today to celebrate and reward the active pro bono work they are undertaking for communities across Glasgow.

“Our vision is to achieve a healthier, more vibrant city with our citizens enjoying and realising the benefits of sport and the wider, longer term economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits that the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will help to deliver.

“Increased participation in sport through tournaments such as this one is just the sort of legacy we want to leave for Glasgow when the Games end in August 2014. And it is fantastic to hear that there’s such interest among the apprentices to continue their new active lifestyle once the Legacy League tournament and Commonwealth Cup competition end.”

(GK)