A community partnership has helped a redundant apprentice.

Apprentice Joiner, Paul McMorrow, aged 19, who lives in Port of Mentieth, commenced his apprenticeship with a Glasgow company in August 2008. He had taken on a number of jobs for a year after leaving school while awaiting the opportunity to pursue his chosen career of joiner.

Unfortunately due to the 'Credit Crunch' the company ceased trading and Paul was made redundant just before Christmas having completed half of his first year.

To his credit, and with the support and encouragement of his family, Paul continued to travel from his home to Forth Valley College's Clackmannan Campus taking two buses each way. His commitment ensured that he finished the work required in his first year. This was made possible by Construction Skills Scotland who had already paid for his first year's tuition.

While attending college Paul has continued to send his CV to various employers and called in to many building sites on the off chance that he may be offered the opportunity to continue with his apprenticeship. However to date he has not managed to secure further employment.

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The Community Partnership, a registered charity supported by the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, heard of Pauls situation. He is one of up to 1,000 apprentices who have been made redundant in Scotland in the past twelve months.

The Apprentice Project was set up by the Community Partnership to encourage small businesses within the National Park communities to offer training places to local young people.

The Partnership Directors were very impressed with Paul's dedication and continued efforts to secure employment, and offered to assist him by making a contribution to his travel expenses from January until May while he completed his college work. Paul recently visited the National Park HQ in Balloch and was presented with a cheque by the project support team.

Paul expressed his thanks to the Partnership for their kind gesture. He said: "At first when I was told that I was losing my job, I was devastated as joinery is all I wanted to do since leaving school. However I soon learned that I was not the only one to be experiencing difficulties due to the current situation and decided that I should continue my course and keep looking for work in the meantime. Although I have not been successful so far, I remain optimistic that I will persuade another employer to offer me the chance to complete my apprenticeship."

If any employer has a place in their company for Paul please contact the project at [email protected] or telephone 01389 722639.

(GK/JM)