Lakehouse volunteers transform community hall in Hackney - February 2012

14 Feb 2012

From 6 - 8 February Lakehouse and Hackney Homes celebrated National Apprenticeship Week 2012 by taking part in a community challenge to regenerate the Rose Lipman Community Hall on the De Beauvoir Estate in Hackney.

Volunteers included Mervyn Green, Kadar Ahmed, Rio Alfonso and Ruby Bukovensky who spent the three days of the challenge preparing and painting the hall. They were joined on Tuesday 7 February by John Newton and Martin Long, senior managers from Hackney Homes who went back to the floor to help transform the community hall.

The hall was reopened to the public on 8 February in an afternoon event attended by Rupert Tyson, the chair of Hackney Homes; the apprentices who carried out all the hard work; and representatives from Hackney Homes and Lakehouse. The apprentices were presented with certificates as recognition of the work they carried out throughout the week.

Lakehouse’s National Skills Co-ordinator Rebecca Nadarajah said: “Recruiting apprentices is a key objective for the National Skills Academy for Construction. Having apprentices from Lakehouse and Hackney Homes working together during this event was a great way for us to promote apprentices to our supply chain and highlight how they can be a real asset to any company”.

The event had a significant impact on the young people involved. Apprentice Mervyn Green said: “I have lived in Hackney all my life and it was nice to work on something which is going to benefit my local community,” and Rio Alfonso, a local trainee, commented: “Since starting at Lakehouse in November I have been able to develop a lot of skills. I really enjoyed the hands on experience I gained this week”.