When former Blairgowrie High pupil Tai McCluskey left school at 15, he hoped to secure an apprenticeship as a joiner.
But when that didn’t work out, he tried a number of other avenues instead.
He started a panel-beating course at Perth College.
He moved into an apprenticeship as a welder and fabricator.
Unfortunately, this didn’t include college placements and it didn’t work out.
Now aged 21, however, the keen footballer, who last year became dad to a wee boy, has become the first beneficiary of a new fund which has set him back on the road to success.
Perth-headquartered Meldrum Joinery and Building, which took on Tai as an apprentice multi-skilled joinery tradesman last November, is the first firm to benefit from Perth Guildry’s heritage trades apprenticeship fund.
The company, owned by the Petterson family since 1951, and headquartered in the Inveralmond Industrial Estate, is a joinery and building services specialist.
It employs 30 highly trained and experienced joinery and building professionals.
What difference will apprenticeship fund make?
Perth Guildry funding will now allow Tai to take a three-year course at Perth College UHI in carpentry and joinery (SVQ), which will begin in January 2024.
The funding also covers the cost of new tools Tai requires as part of his new role and for his course at Perth College UHI.
“I’ve enjoyed it so far – it’s good,” Tai told The Courier.
“It helps having had experience working on tools before.
“I’ve kind of had a wee headstart.
“But I’m a bit more focussed now and this is really what I want to do.
“A year ago I had a wee boy as well.
“Obviously you want to provide for your family.
“The best way to do that is getting a good career and stuff like that.
“Joinery is a good fit for me and my family.”
‘Passion’ to help young tradesmen progress
Derek Petterson, CEO of PGC Group, which includes Meldrum Joinery and Building and its sister company McLeod Glaziers, said they are “very grateful” to The Guildry for providing this funding opportunity.
Meldrums are “passionate” about introducing young people to their trade.
The fund has provided the finance they need to provide their new apprentice with the expert external training and high spec equipment he needs to hit the ground running.
However, he also hopes it will raise awareness about the need for apprentices.
He hopes it’ll make people realise that apprentice opportunities could and should exist at any age.
“Certainly for us, it was unusual to get a 21-year-old apprentice,” said Derek.
“But Tai’s example is one we’ve been going down the line with.
“With the greatest of respect to 16-year-olds, they’ve still to mature somewhat.
“There can be a lot of changes as someone becomes 17, 18, 19.
“As a company we could be placing a lot of time and energy into a young lad’s apprenticeship.
“He might then hit 19/20 and think, ‘this is not for me. I’m out of here on to something different’.
“Whereas when we find someone like Tai – and we have another lad, Reece Burgess – he’s come in as a further apprentice, a similar age as Tai – we just find that’s bringing in a nice mature apprentice!”
Long history of Perth Guildry
Perth Guildry can trace its roots back more than 800 years.
It is a direct descendant of the merchant guild, which received its royal recognition in the famous charter King William the Lion granted to the City of Perth in 1210.
Royal signatures within the Guildry’s Lockit Book include James VI of Scotland in 1601, King Charles II at the time of his coronation in Scone, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1842 and the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 2012.
Back in the day, when Perth was a small walled city, the guildry would challenge people from other towns trying to do business.
Traders would be stopped at the gates and have to pay a fee to enter the city and sell goods.
The guildry was an early friendly society that supported members who had fallen on hard times.
What role does Perth Guildry play today?
Today, as a charitable organisation, it continues to provide support for its members by way of bursaries and pensions.
It also supports local causes.
However, one of the biggest things the Guildry does nowadays is give out educational bursaries to non-members.
Each year, applications are invited through Perth secondary schools.
Successful applicants receive £1,000 to help them move on to college or university and to help further their career.
Now, Perth Guildry hopes the setting up of the new fund will help heritage trade companies in Perth and Guildtown take on and train up an apprentice.
The heritage trades apprenticeship fund seeks to assist traditional heritage trade companies based in Perth and Guildtown who are keen to expand their businesses by taking on an apprentice and have an enthusiasm for passing on their knowledge.
Through the fund, Perth Guildry will cover the cost of any external training or tools required by the apprentice in his or her new role.
However, the fund does not cover the salary of the apprentice.
What applications are accepted?
Perth Guildry will accept applications from heritage trade companies including drystone dykers, stonemasons, jewellers, clock makers, carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, thatchers, French polishers and kilt makers, plus many more.
Michael Gaffney, Perth Guildry’s Lord Dean of Guild, explained how the idea for the fund came out of a committee meeting.
“I think it was myself that came up with the idea,” he said in an interview with The Courier.
“I said ‘what about sponsoring an apprentice?’
“We then went down the route of – ‘how can we encourage apprentices to get into trades’?
“We had a barren year of trying to make this work.
“We ended up employing a company to assist us with this.
“But this is where we are now.
“We’ve got one apprentice on the books, and every year we are hoping to assist other companies with apprentices.
“This is the start of start of something moving forward and it will progress into the future.”
Promoting trades as a viable career choice
Mr Gaffney said it’s only right that, as they look to the future, they do all they can to help traditional heritage trades stay alive by introducing young people to heritage trades as a viable career choice.
He says it’s vital more is done to promote trades as a viable career path at a time when, he says, many are “disappearing”.
However, the opportunities have to come from the companies.
“If the trades don’t just keep on going, what kind of society are we going to be living in?” he said.
“Look at all the shops that are shutting round about us.
“That’s because of the internet.
“People can just go online and buy things rather than go to a place and engage.
“It goes back to trades as well. For example, watchmakers. Who hears of a watchmaker now?
“It’s important to keep all these businesses going. It’s very shortsighted not to.
“What is it going to look like in 50 years when buildings are falling down because there are no stonemasons?
“We always need people to repair and that’s a skilled job.
“But I feel the companies in the area don’t go looking for apprentices.
“Some have lost apprentices in second and third years because they are not being paid enough money.”
More encouragement needed from government
By contrast, Mr Gaffney said that when he started as an apprentice aircraft engineer at Scone Aerodrome as it was then aged 16, he was “over the moon”.
He saw his apprenticeship through for four years then worked as an aircraft engineer for five years after that.
He then left and joined the fire brigade for 30 years in Perth.
Regardless of where anyone’s political allegiance lies, he says it’s “massively important” to have the support of MSP for Perthshire North John Swinney.
But he’d like to see the Scottish Government do even more to make apprenticeships an “appealing opportunity” for youngsters.
“I don’t think it gets that publicity,” he added.
“That’s something the Scottish Government should get involved in – encouraging companies to take on the future generations to keep all the work and businesses going.
“The focus now we’re seeing is more people going on to universities, but we can’t afford to let the traditional trades die.”
How to find out more about fund
Visit www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/crafts for a full list of heritage trades eligible for the fund.
Companies who operate a business in the Perth area, or in Guildtown, and are considering taking on an apprentice should contact the Guild Clerk of Perth Guildry by e-mail (secretary@perthguildry.org.uk) as soon as possible for an application form to apply.
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