David and Lynley

David and Lynley are a married couple. They live in their own home, work at jobs they enjoy and have sporting interests. Though they have minimal contact with Lifestyle Trust now, there was a time when doing contract work at a sheltered workshop was all they knew. The changes in David and Lynley's lives since then reflect the changes and ongoing development of Lifestyle Trust. 

When David left school he went to the Peachgrove sheltered workshop where he spent his day alongside about 30 other people acquiring work skills. He enjoyed the social life connected with the workshop - parties, dinners and family occasions. It was while he was attending Peachgrove that he met, and subsequently married, Lynley.

A few years later, David was transferred to the organization's Training Centre, as he was considered too capable to stay at Peachgrove Rd. While the move turned out well for him, he was not consulted at all, but was simply told that the following week he was to be at the new workshop. He had friends and Lynley at Peachgrove and was angry about being moved, but felt he had little choice but to accept the decision.

Skilled at rolling drench gun hoses and assembling componentry, he became a job coach, teaching and supervising other people at the Training Centre. It was a role that brought respect, even though he was paid only an attendance allowance. He developed new friendships and felt he would have been happy to stay there forever.

However, a change in the organisation's direction brought an end to contract work and to the attendance allowance. With the assistance of employment consultancy Career Moves, David found his first properly remunerated job as assistant caretaker at Melville High School, where he worked three days a week, on a six month contract. He spent the other two weekdays at Lifestyle Trust's vocational service, socializing with his friends and pursuing interests and hobbies.

Utilizing the carving skills he had acquired at Lifestyle Trust, David then got a job at Airstone Designer Masonry, where he now works for three days a week. He carves koru, seals statues, helps dispatch items and keeps the factory tidy.

He has chosen to spend his free days pursuing interests in the community and no longer needs the support of the Lifestyle Trust day service.

Lynley met David at a polytech course. Through him, she learned about the Hamilton Sheltered Workshop, as Lifestyle Trust was then called.  With the support of her parents, she decided to go there to take up contract work. Most of her tasks were for a local business and included packaging curtain hooks, picture hooks, screws and nails and pouring glue from bulk containers into smaller bottles. She, too, was content at the workshop and never really thought about doing anything else. When Peachgrove amalgamated with the Workshop and Training Centre, she and David were based at the same centre again.

Once the workshop stopped doing contract work and changed to a vocational service, Lynley had a number of different roles. She spent time in the Lifestyle cafeteria where she learned food handling skills and how to use the commercial dishwasher. Later, she enjoyed being part of the Lifestyle environment team, maintaining the Sunshine Avenue gardens, laying pathways and painting. She also had a part-time job in a garden centre for a time. Without the attendance allowance, the need for a real wage became apparent.

With the help of Career Moves, Lynley took up her present position in the kitchen at St Peter's School, Cambridge, and has worked there since 2003. Like David, she no longer seeks the support of Lifestyle Trust and gains great enjoyment from her roles within the community. It is a great source of pride to her and her wider family that she has moved on to a real job.