From left:  Dylan Butt, Dawn Hayes, Krystle Monaghan, Cllr Pat Callaghan and Terry Wiggett

Published: 4 April 2013
by PAVAN AMARA

COMMUNITY halls in Gospel Oak got a fresh lick of paint after a dozen new apprentices celebrated their first step into employment this month.

Kiln Place and Bacton Low Rise tenants’ halls welcomed the building maintenance and operations trainees who sanded down furniture and painted the walls as they learnt new skills.

Camden Council’s deputy leader Pat Callaghan and chair of Gospel Oak District Management Committee Terry Wiggett handed out certificates and £10 Marks & Spencer vouchers.

Fusnara Begum, who is a project skills coordinator at maintenance contracting firm Lakehouse, said: “While Lakehouse paid for the apprenticeships, most of those taken on the scheme are people born and raised in Camden because we worked with the council to recruit.

“Everybody on the scheme is vulnerable in some way, but also very talented. They are the businessmen and women of the future and we recently had National Apprentice Week so this is an apt time to celebrate.”

Krystle Monaghan, 27, one of the apprentices who went to Parliament Hill school said: “I want to start an all-female division within Lakehouse, we need more women in this business, especially if you think of the number of female tenants who would prefer female workers in their homes.”