ALLOTMENTS are providing a fertile ground for teenagers to develop their skills.
Horticulture is one of the new subjects offered by Rathbone Training, which helps 16 to 18 year olds who have learning and social difficulties. The centre, in Queen’s Square, Middlesbrough, is using plots in Beechwood to teach 24 teenagers about gardening and healthy eating in preparation for apprenticeships if they wish to pursue horticulture as a career.
It is one of many activities teenagers at Rathbone Training can do to help improve basic skills and find a career path through the E2E (entry to employment) programme.
The horticulture programme started about four months ago with one plot and has proved so successful they now enlarged their garden with a second plot.
Rathbone Training has also secured a grant of £990 from the Scarman Trust to make a polytunnel, a shed and a classroom.
Vegetables grown in the allotment are brought back to Rathbone where they are cooked by the students.
Rachel Pickering, 16, from Middlesbrough, who has cerebral palsy, came to Rathbone Training after leaving Macmillan Academy in June. Visiting the allotments is her favourite time of the week.
She said: “I like going to the garden best. We plant things like beetroots, pea pods and carrots and I like seeing them grow.�
Rachel has completed a retail placement at a Barnardo’s Charity Shop and hoping to go to Debenhams next, but she is still not sure which career path to follow.
Colin Thompson, Rathbone centre manager, said the centre takes on youngsters who have learning difficulties or social difficulties.
“The youngsters will learn basic skills such as mathematics and English literacy and we are not classroom based, they have fun but they are learning,� he said.
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