Slide
Participant
Stories

We are very fortunate at ECO Work-Shop to be able to work alongside our brilliant participants. On this page, we will be sharing their individual stories in order to provide a better understanding of the people that our organisation supports. We invite you to explore these stories, celebrate their successes with us, and gain a greater understanding of the people who make ECO Work-Shop such a special place.

Tim

Tim

For my first story I would like to introduce you to Tim. Tim is one of the few participants who has been with ECO Work-Shop since it was founded back in 2013. His Mum is one of our directors/founders which makes Tim partly responsible for the creation of Work-Shop itself! Tim is football/Man City mad and has taken great pleasure in reminding me that they beat Arsenal 4-1 last week. He has an extensive collection of football shirts and in my 8 months at ECO Work-Shop I am yet to see him wear the same shirt twice! Tim’s favourite ECO Work-Shop activity is his placement at Upton House which he attends once a week. He helps with several jobs such as baking and washing up dishes and he recently picked up an award for 5 years of service! Tim enjoys helping me package up our online orders and insists on picking the music on our post office trips which usually consists of a range of heavy metal songs. He originally claimed that working with me was his favourite ECO Work-Shop activity but then later admitted he only said this as I was the one asking the question! Tim is one of many people we support and by attending ECO Work-Shop he has made some great friends as well as developing important work/life skills enabling him to now lead a happier and more purposeful life!
Alice

Alice

My next ‘Participant Story’ focuses on Alice, who has been a big part of ECO Work-Shop since she began attending back in 2015. Alice gets on well with everybody at Work-Shop but has made it clear who her favourites are! In Alice’s eyes, nobody comes close to work supporter ‘Big Jonn’ who she often refers to as her ‘hero’. She has also informed me that she does like me as well, but I am aware I am still a long way off ‘hero’ status. As well as her admiration for ‘Big Jonn’, Alice is inseparable from fellow participant Toby when they work together on a Friday. When I asked Alice to pick a favourite ECO Work-Shop activity she claimed that she couldn’t choose one as she enjoys them all equally. It is clear that she loves being part of a team and being involved in group tasks/activities as her infectious laugh can always be heard throughout the day! Alice loves wrestling and will often spend her weekends watching live ‘Phenomenal Elite Wrestling’ events in Stratford upon Avon with her Mum. She explained how recently her favourite wrestler ‘Mikey’ lost his title so I am now also rooting for him to win it back! For over 8 years now, Alice has been a key member of the ECO Work-Shop team and in her time here she has developed important life skills that will help her going forward into the future. We hope we can continue to support Alice for many years to come as Work-Shop wouldn’t be the same without her!
Corey

Corey

Stepping into the spotlight for this ‘Participant Story’ is Corey, who has been attending ECO Work-Shop since early 2016. Corey is a huge football/Sunderland fan but I am never quite sure which team he is supporting. He currently greets me in the morning with the words ‘boo Arsenal’ whilst proudly showing off his Manchester United backpack. However, during last season he seemed to be firmly on my side whilst we were top of the league and constantly told me how Arsenal were the best/his favourite team! Corey’s favourite ECO Work-Shop activity is his placement at Upton House. As much as he enjoys the work that he does, the fact it’s his favourite job may have something to do with the large slice of cake and hot chocolate he is treated to most visits! I think the chocolatey grin on his face in the photos below explains that better than I ever could! As well as his Upton house placement, Corey also helps out at Caffeine and Machine as well as the Stratford Garden Centre Fruit and Veg Shack who also both spoil him rotten! Away from Work-Shop, Corey loves spending time with his 2 brothers and enjoys going to the pub! If you couldn’t tell from the previous paragraph, Corey loves his food and would ideally spend his weekends eating pork pies and meat feast pizza! Since 2016, Corey has been a key figure within Work-Shop and is constantly entertaining everybody with his brilliant imagination! In his 7 years here, Corey has grown as a person thanks to the opportunity to participate in work-based activities within ECO Work-Shop in addition to his placements!
Maddie

Maddie

For my next ‘Participant Story’ I would like to introduce you to Maddie who has been attending ECO Work-Shop since early 2018. Maddie loves football and is a huge Arsenal fan (which instantly makes her one of my favourite participants). We always stick together on a Monday morning if the result hasn’t gone our way at the weekend and take great pleasure in gloating to everybody else if it has! However, at one of our recent participant reward activities our Arsenal bond meant nothing as she made sure I was in goal whilst she relentlessly fired penalties past me! Maddie loves attending ECO Work-Shop and thoroughly enjoys her various work placements. She currently works in the factory at DCS on a Thursday morning, followed by a shift at Café Lomas in the afternoon. She also helps out at the food share in Meon Vale on a Friday and is looking forward to being back working in their Pavilion Café once it has finished its refurbishment. Maddie told me that these placements are great fun and they have helped her grow in confidence whilst also learning valuable new skills. She enjoys working as part of a team in a real-world environment and now feels better equipped to deal with members of the public. Maddie also enjoys working within Work-Shop and said if she had to pick a favourite activity (besides her placements) it would be our ‘can-crushing’ task. Away from Work-Shop, Maddie loves animals and enjoys walking her own dog, Freddie. She often asks about my dog, Lulu, and will happily listen and offer advice if anybody ever has any dog related queries/questions. Maddie is a key member of the ECO Work-Shop team and is just one of many participants that we support. In her 5 years here, she has gained valuable work/life skills and experience which has enabled her to lead a more purposeful life.
Jack

Jack

My next ‘Participant Story’ focuses on Jack, who is the brother of our activities lead, Nathan, and has been attending ECO Work-Shop since 2019. Jack loves a range of sports and plays rugby for the Old Leamingtonians Hornets as well as spending a lot of his spare time in the gym. Jack is one of our most athletic participants and I think he would take great pride in telling everybody that he is also the strongest! Whenever myself or anybody else needs help with some heavy lifting, Jack is always the first to volunteer and takes great pride in completing the job. Jack’s favourite ECO Work-Shop activities are our ‘Lions, message in a bottle’ task as well as anything woodwork related. As much as Jack enjoys the ‘Lions’ job itself, he did admit that one of the main reasons it was his favourite was because it shares its name with NFL side Detroit Lions! Jack also enjoyed helping me package up our weekly sales recently and loved our trip to the post office where we listened to AC/DC at his request. He was particularly excited to discover that they have a song named ‘The Jack’! Outside of work, Jack loves watching action films at the cinema and his current favourite is Godzilla vs Kong (although I reckon Jack is stronger than them both)! His love for films often comes across in Work-Shop as he enjoys showing us his favourite film clips on his phone and will often assign certain characters to different support workers! As well as his love for films, Jack also has a great interest in the RAF and the Red Arrows! In his 4 years here, Jack has grown in confidence and has become a key member of the ‘Work-Shop team’. ECO Work-Shop would not be the same without him and it would certainly be a lot harder moving heavy objects around!
Matthew

Matthew

The subject of this ‘Participant Story’ is Matthew who has been attending ECO Work-Shop since 2015. Matthew is a very polite young man who I have had the pleasure of knowing most of my life. He is always enthusiastic in greeting members of staff in the morning and keeps me in line by telling me off if I enter Work-Shop through the ‘wrong’ door. Matthew enjoys many ECO Work-Shop activities including working in the garden and going on trips to the tip when it’s needed. He also thrives during various woodwork projects and was recently a key member of the team that helped to create a new notice board for Lifeways. As well as our work tasks, Matthew also enjoys our various reward activities such as our Pizza Hut trips and, more recently, our boat trip! In 2021, ECO Work-Shop arranged voluntary work for Matthew at ‘The Food of Love’ café in Stratford upon Avon which allowed him to complete his Gold DofE award. Matthew worked very hard for this achievement and attended Buckingham Palace to receive his award in person! Away from Work-Shop, Matthew plays various sports. He enjoys playing cricket, golf and tennis and will often go horse riding. After building up an appetite from all his sports, Matthew enjoys going out for meals with his friends/family. In his 8 years here, Matthew has been able to continue developing on the skills he has learnt throughout his life and is able to apply them during our work-based activities. We hope we can continue to support Matthew for many years to come so he can carry on leading a purposeful life.
Claire

Claire

For this ‘Participant Story’ I would like to introduce you to Claire who has been very excited to share her story since I started writing them last year, and has been a part of ECO Work-Shop since 2015. Claire loves to keep everybody entertained at Work-Shop with her brilliant (and sometimes not so brilliant) one-liners. We have had to limit her to one main joke a day though so she doesn’t get too carried away! She also enjoys winding me up and always tells me I’ve lost my car keys or that I’m not allowed back into the office as I’ve been sacked! When I asked Claire what her favourite part about Work-Shop was she told me it was spending time with me. When I unfortunately realised this was another one of her jokes she admitted her favourite tasks are actually painting teabags, sorting glasses and making pizza boxes. Claire’s favourite part about these activities is the fact they are done in groups and she gets to spend time working/socialising with her fellow participants. She also wanted to thank the woman who donated us the large blue sheet for the glasses task by saying ‘Ta-Pauline’! Away from Work-Shop, Claire enjoys listening to music (particularly Irish music) and going shopping. She also recently attended our Work-Shop 10 year anniversary ball and described it as “the best thing ever”. Last Christmas, to celebrate 10 years at Work-Shop, we gifted all of our participants a ‘Work-Shop’ backpack and a personalised mug. Claire wanted to include in this story how thankful she was for the gifts and said they were very thoughtful. For nearly 9 years now, Claire has been a big part of Work-Shop and throughout her time here, she has grown in confidence as well as developing important life skills. We hope we can continue to support Claire and that she keeps making us laugh for many years to come!
Chris

Chris

For the following ‘Participant Story’ I would like to introduce you to Chris, who has been with us at Work-Shop since 2015. Chris enjoys being at Work-Shop and likes to joke around with other participants and work supporters. He enjoys winding me up and will often come to ask me if I’m doing any work and once asked if we could sell me on eBay to raise some money! Chris’ favourite ECO Work-Shop activities are his one to one computer and sewing tasks. This involves jobs such as typing up our newsletters as well as invitations to reward activities. He is very good on the computer and our assistant service manager Karen said it is often him showing her how to use the computer, rather than the other way round! Away from Work-Shop, Chris has recently taken up playing the ukulele! He was very proud of this and during our breaks a few weeks ago we enjoyed watching a video of Chris playing and singing ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ by The Proclaimers! Based off our new knowledge of his musical talents, we are expecting him to be a part of this years ‘Christmas Concert’! In his 9 years here, Chris has been able to continue developing his skills and has grown in confidence. We hope Chris can continue with us for many years to come and that we get to see many more of his future performances!
Luke

Luke

My next ‘Participant Story’ focuses on the ever-charming Luke who has been with us at Work-Shop since 2022. As mentioned, Luke is very charming and tends to start his day by letting us know how happy he is to see all the “wonderful people” at Work-Shop. His positive energy radiates throughout the day and I know it puts a smile on my face when I see him in the morning. Luke was unable to pick a favourite ECO Work-Shop activity and claimed that the most important part for him was getting the work done in a team. Luke is very hard-working but also enjoys the ‘social-side’ of Work-Shop and he made it clear how much he appreciates the opportunity to take part in some of the work-based activities we offer. Luke likes to keep fit and has a personal trainer who he has sessions with 2 times a week. He says it’s very important for him to keep active and won’t let his disability stop him from taking part in a number of different exercises such as the cross trainer and various weight training. His passion for fitness can be seen during our daily walks at Work-Shop and Luke does sometimes have to be reminded that we aren’t all as quick as him! As well as working hard in the gym, Luke also attends an Art Club at Escape Arts on a weekly basis. For the past couple of years, Luke’s positive energy has been present within Work-Shop and we hope we can continue to support him for many years to come as I think we could all learn something by having Luke’s outlook on life.
Kevin

Kevin

The subject of this ‘Participant Story’ is Kevin, who has been part of Work-Shop since 2020. Kevin is known for his kind and caring nature and often acts as a father figure to our other participants. Before our morning walk, it’s not uncommon to find him helping others zip up their coats, tie their shoes, or offering any other necessary support. His thoughtfulness certainly helps set a positive tone for everyone around him. When I asked Kevin about his favourite Work-Shop activity, his easy-going personality shone through as he told me he is happy with whatever is offered to him. It is clear he enjoys working alongside others in a group setting and is always happy to lend a hand to anyone who needs it. I did attempt to ask Kevin if he had a favourite staff member or participant but, being the gentleman that he is, he was far too polite to answer! Away from Work-Shop, Kevin enjoys catching up with his mates and spending quality time with his family. Living nearby to his parents and brother allows him to stay closely connected with them which I could tell was something that he really valued. Kevin’s warmth and compassion have had a clear positive impact on everyone he’s crossed paths with here at Work-Shop. It’s been a privilege to have him as part of our community for nearly 5 years now and we look forward to supporting him for many years to come.