The LWM Charitable Trust was established to distribute some of the profits from LWM Consultants to causes both in the UK and Overseas. We also go beyond providing money; we are trustees for some charities in Bristol and provide voluntary help.
We have recently been working with an organisation called My Future My Choices; which has been working closely with organisations in Bristol who provide educational support to young people who have left mainstream education. We have spent a couple of days with them, firstly volunteering in some confidence building exercises and more recently we have been working with them to potentially find a way of selling the art that some of them produce and therefore make money.
Yesterday George was asked to go on an educational trip on board a boat as a volunteer, up the River Avon. For many of the young people this was the first time they have experienced a river cruise. It was also an opportunity for the volunteers to highlight different employment opportunities including those at Avonmouth Docks. Many of the young desire money but lack the drive to seek employment beyond the confines of where they live.
Two things came out of the trip which were really positive, firstly although the young people were easily bored (three hours on a boat will test any young person) some of them engaged with the boat’s captain and we spent some time talking to him about how he had become a captain and some of the young people were given the opportunity to “drive” the boat including going under the iconic Suspension Bridge. Out of this one of the young people has asked if he can do do work experience on the boat and we are keen for him to have this as it could potentially turn his life around.
And secondly, after the initial excitement had worn off the young people were then keen to hang out of the roof of the boat and windows, and we needed something to distract them as they were a danger to the boat and themselves. Luckily we had brought along a camera which provided an excellent distraction and enabled the volunteers to engage with them, and encourage them to take pictures and see beyond the river to images like birds, boats and houses. A couple of the pictures are included in this update.
As we returned to Bristol all the volunteers were exhausted! We believe that if just one of the ten young people on board takes the opportunity to do work experience and change the direction of their life it has been a success.