The aim is that you learn new skills, increase your confidence and transfer those skills into your community through work roles, volunteering or even your own enterprises. 

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Craft and design including woodworking, metalworking, furniture upcycling

Learn how to make useful products out of pallets and scrap wood, upcycle furniture and work with plastics. Right now we're making reindeer and Santa signs for sale online and at our Christmas market; after Christmas there will be other seasonal products for Valentine's Day and Easter. 

Every project you work on has a real-life use; furniture we've upcycled has been sold as coffee tables, DVD and games cabinets, headphone and speaker stands. We've even worked on jumps for Thompson House Equestrian Centre's arenas. 

Then, when the making is complete, learn how to manage stock and sell both online and offline (see below).

Hospitality roles

Work with our teams from our adapted kitchen providing hospitality for Wigan's Warm and Welcoming Spaces, and help launch our Monday Luncheon Club. We'll also work with you to plan and deliver refreshments for the courses that take place at Harlor House. 

With Stable Door Cafe at Thompson House, we'll also offer you a programme of skills-based learning and experience in their cafe, with the intention that you can use those skills in other establishments in the area - with or without support. 

Our hospitality training can also lead to paid roles within our teams during the many events My Life holds throughout the year.

Uniform upcycling

In conjunction with Smart Futures, learn all aspects of managing a uniform upcycling business, from receiving stock to quality assurance, sizing, inventory management and finally selling either via e-commerce or running one of our pop-up shops!

 

E-Commerce, inventory management and retail

Learn about bespoke branding with our specialist printer before we launch the products and services we've created - both online and offline. Help promote our products on an e-commerce site and manage stock, before closing sales and working on order fullfillment and distribution.

Gardening services and site maintenance

With the help of some incredible support from local firm Bimson Power, we are able to offer training in cordless, battery operated tools, from lawn mowers to leaf blowers, chainsaws to strimmers. Learn the craft of gardening and site maintenance, and then go out into the community with us to help keep gardens and other spaces neat and tidy. We particularly want to help vulnerable people in this enterprise. 

Reception and admin roles

Work with our experienced receptionists and administrators on site to learn all aspects of these important and varied roles. This isn't work experience; we want this part of our programme to equip people with the skills to do these jobs, or elements of them, for themselves - with or without support. Become our Head of First Impressions!

Bicycle maintenance and repair

Text to come

 

 

 

This is not an exhaustive list by any means; if you have an idea for a work-based role or micro-enterprise which you would like to see My Life Works offer, let us know.  Somebody came to My Life Works interested in candle-making; we secured the equipment necessary to produce candles at scale and now he’s off making candles for the Christmas market!