“The fire has been crackling, the food has been simply delicious and the activities and crafts approached with great enthusiasm as we’ve started our new season of sharing and learning at Rekindle.

We’re only two weeks into that new season, but we’ve already experienced willow crafts, whittling, cordage and small axe work and learned about some of the history and uses of these ancient skills.

As well as enjoying spending quality time at the Kensley Sheds and in the woods, our young participants are working towards achieving an OCN Crafts and Land Skills qualification in an exciting new education project for the ReKindle team. That team - Sam, Emma, Scott and Paul are excited to see the young people develop their skills, see future potential employment or work opportunities and learn to value and love the woodland environment as we work together in our regular weekly sessions.

Sessions take place on Monday and Thursday throughout the day. Students are involved in learning and developing heritage craft skills, but also building self confidence, resilience and persistence. They are being encouraged to be open to new experiences, try new techniques and work with natural - but for many unfamiliar - raw materials.

The natural pace of working with these materials is giving us all time to learn about each other’s strengths, interests and values - it’s the start of an exciting journey together. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be allowing our young participants to experience a wide range of craft and land skill work - including tanning, land skills, leatherwork, pottery, shelter building, metalwork and green woodworking. It’s a packed curriculum - one that Sam has worked tremendously hard to put together. Once we’ve had a taste of the wide range of heritage skills, we’ll look to choose a skill that has interested us most keenly, and specialise in that more specific area, looking to develop and improve our skills as the year progresses.

It’s definitely an exciting time to be part of the ReKindle Youth initiative.“


- Sam, Emma, Scott and Paul

To find out more about the Rekindle Youth Project visit therewildproject.com/rekindle-youth-home-ed