Hi
My name is Lynne Powell and i work for a company called Shaw Trust we help people with long tearm illness get back to work .
We have on our books a very popular man called Tom Carroll and dispite arithius and suffering a mild stroke he has with a little help built a very well knowen fishing project for children and is looking to develop it
what Tom is looking for is a plot of land on which he could put a pond of about 1.5 acres in time there would also be a shop toilets and cafe all this would be to help children stay of the streets and learn a new skill
look him on on the web site but read one of the many storys about this wonderfull man first
SHAW TRUST PRESS RELEASE
MIRACLE WORKING ANGLER THROWS
TROUBLED YOUNGSTERS A LIFELINE
MIRACLE working fisherman Tom Carroll, who thought he was on the
scrap heap himself after illness laid him low, is now helping shoals
of troubled youngsters to turn their own lives around.
Tom feared he’d never work again after 10 years on benefits. Instead,
he has turned his love of angling into a coaching business to help
some of the area’s most troubled youngsters change track.
“I was at the end of my tether and felt lower than a snake’s belly,
when I attempted to return to work and failed. A friend recommended I
contact national charity Shaw Trust, which changed my life,” says
Tom, 49, from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.
“Now I see the changes in the youngsters who come to us and it gives
me goose bumps. It’s brilliant.”
Tom admits he was a broken man when he came to Shaw Trust, which
provides training and work opportunities to people disadvantaged in
the labour market by disability, ill health or social circumstances.
Tom, who has osteo-arthritis and had suffered a mild stroke, says
arranging an initial chat with Shaw Trust’s Newton Aycliffe Project
Officer Diane Stabler in 2005 was one of the best decisions he’d ever
made.
Diane says everyone is full of respect for Tom and the story of how
he transformed his life is on the leaflet handed to prospective
clients, and motivates everyone who reads it.
“He was a man destroyed when he first arrived,” she recalls. “He had
written himself off and was at the end of his tether.
“Now you couldn’t fail to admire what he has achieved. The
relationship he has with the youngsters is magical. He treats them
with respect, not as second-class citizens because they’ve got a
record, and they respond magnificently.”
With Diane’s help, Tom was able to look at the kind of employment
opportunities available and, having broached the possibility of some
kind of teaching, he embarked on the course to train to be an angling
coach. Shaw Trust helped by seeking funding sources and the equipment
he needed to set up.
Tom qualified to become a level two coaching instructor in angling
and launched his own business, Fishing with Tom.
Despite ongoing health problems which often leave him in pain, Tom
runs his business for 16 hours a week, much of it working with
youngsters aged between six and 17, many of whom are in secure
facilities, or tagged or awaiting sentencing.
Passionate about angling since a small child, Tom says he was
motivated to do something to help youngsters.
Fishing with Tom works with private clients as well, but most of his
work comes from the youngsters sent to him by the County Durham Youth
Engagement Service (CDYES). The young people have, through improved
behaviour, earned the privilege of a fishing lesson with him.
Depending on the severity of their offences, some will be escorted.
Tom treats them all equally.
“Tom accepts young people for his programme regardless of their
history and treats them all as individuals, which encourages the
improved behaviour and respect they, in turn, show him and my staff.
He provides a significant contribution towards our work to divert
young people away from crime,” comments Dave Carroll, Operations
Manager CDYES.
Tom explains: “They come to us and, yes, we teach them fishing, but
they also learn how to say please, thank you, excuse me, they shake
hands, they don’t interrupt and we do away with all the swear words.
“It’s a huge learning curve for these kids because sometimes they’ve
never had anyone to sit down and talk to them. A lot of them will
have been in secure places. A lot of them will be on electronic tags,
a lot will be awaiting sentencing,” he adds.
“We’ve heard back from several of the judges who’ve sentenced some of
these kids and one of the remarks that sticks out for me is ‘the
young men who’s standing in front of me is not the young man who was
in front of me 10 weeks ago. Will somebody please tell me what you
did with him?’.
“The project turns people that quickly and, as a result, they are
getting, not a great deal knocked off their sentences, but sometimes
reduced sentences because of the work that we’ve done with them.”
Tom says the rewards work both ways: “The changes I see in them make
me feel unbelievable. I get a tingle down my spine every time it
happens. It’s absolutely brilliant and has also been one huge
learning curve for myself as I watch them transform themselves.
“At the end of 10 weeks they leave saying please and thank you and
‘I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me’.”
The experience, says Tom, helps him deal with aspects of his own
life. He would love to run the project full-time but his health won’t
let him.
“I do suffer a lot of pain while I’m coaching,” he admits, “but these
kids come with me for a four-hour session and you grin and bear the
pain for those hours because at the end of the day I can go back to
my nice secure house and they often go back to living a life of
hell,” he says.
“Most of them have never seen fish. A lot of these kids have nothing.”
Tom has now applied for charity status for Fishing with Tom, which
will allow him to extend the hours. He is also constantly fund
raising and appealing for volunteers, sponsors and donations of
equipment, via his website www.fishingwithtom.com
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the Youth
Engagement Service Intensive Supervision & Surveillance Programme and
Durham County Council, who have helped to keep this unique project
running,” adds Tom.
He takes on youngsters referred by the Youth Justice Board and the
Council. Clients include 5 to 16 year olds referred by CATS, part of
Durham County Council's Children & Young People's Services.
“We use constructive activities to be a positive example and
influence on young people and have worked with Tom almost since he
started up,” explained Tim Hakim, Acting CATS Team Manager.
“We also aim to promote healthy living with our young people and
Tom's programmes fit in well with the other work we do using
adventurous outdoor pursuits, the arts, sport and gardening projects.”
Tom is still in constant contact with Diane at Shaw Trust, and can’t
praise the help he’s received highly enough. He has already
recommended several others to the organisation, including his own
daughter.
“I was at the end of my tether and lower than a snake’s belly,” he
says. “Shaw Trust has changed my life completely.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. For further details, please contact Marketing Communications
Manager Helen Durnion on 18002 01642 371791 (Typetalk - please use
all numbers) or PR Officer Becky Gammon on 07779 784901. Or you can
email crucialpr@shaw-trust.org.uk
2. Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps
people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve
independence. We do this not only by delivering government
programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by
campaigning to change attitudes at all levels.
3. Across the UK more than 1,200 staff now oversee a diverse range of
more than 200 projects.=