Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

There’s just a few days left for people to secure their chance of winning a construction apprenticeship. The clock is ticking towards the June 19th deadline for entries to this year’s Next Steps – the annual competition where anyone living in Carmarthenshire, aged 16+, has the chance of securing an apprenticeship with local building firms Lloyd & Gravell Ltd and TRJ Ltd . It is open to men and women, there is no upper age limit, and it does not matter what previous experience entrants have. Next Steps is run by Constructing Carmarthenshire Together - a partnership of Carmarthenshire County Council, Coleg Sir Gâr , and Carmarthenshire Construction Training Association Ltd . Now in its fifth year, the competition has already changed the lives of countless local people – including people who have gone on to set up their own business and win national skills competitions, as well as children and adults with severe disabilities who have benefitted from community projects built by th...

The First Minister, Carwyn Jones, will today see how a partnership between Carmarthenshire Construction Training Association Ltd (CCTAL) and a group of widows in Kachumbala, Uganda, is having a transformative effect on people’s lives both in Wales and in Uganda. As part of his visit to Uganda this week, the First Minister will lay the foundation stone at a new grinding mill and storage unit in Kachumbala which has been made possible thanks to CCTAL and its partners, Coleg Sir Gar, CITB and Carmarthenshire County Council, and Engineers for Overseas Development (EFOD) Carmarthenshire. The mill and storage unit is run by Kachumbala Farmer’s Charity Group (KFCG), a cooperative of 30 widows which formed in 2011. The mill and storage unit will enable the group to process and sell the crops they grow on a commercial basis, allowing them to make a sustainable livelihood. CCTAL held a fundraising dinner last year which raised £30,000 to fund the building of the mill and food storage facility. ...

A Carmarthenshire apprentice scheme has been recognised as a leader in its field at a national award ceremony. Despite missing out on the overall award, the Carmarthenshire Shared Apprentice scheme was singled out for praise at the National Training Awards overall winners’ ceremony in London in December. The Shared Apprenticeship Scheme, which offers opportunities for young people to enter the construction sector in Carmarthenshire, had previously won the NTA’s Wales regional award in September. The scheme is run by Carmarthenshire Construction Training Association Ltd (CCTAL), CITB-ConstructionSkills Wales, Coleg Sir Gar and Carmarthenshire County Council. The judges comments read: “The judges concluded that this is an innovative approach to apprenticeships. While the success of the programme is clearly evidenced in the entry, the judges were pleased to see that the CCTAL approach is currently being evaluated as the future model for all apprenticeships in England and Wales. “The pot...