Different we thought, but sounds interesting. The project will include Dj’s, MC’s, street dance, video, photography and surfing!

They will teach us what we need to know so if you’re interested give us a shout.

pete@groundswellcic.com or 07968 892829

This is a free event, but please do drop us a line on our Facebook wall to let us know you wish to be a part of it. You never know, you could be the next Tim Mckenna!

You will need to meet at 10am at the Errant Surf Holidays and Ground Swell base at Trebarwith Hotel.

Based on the success of other similar vocational schemes such as Fifteen Cornwall, Xtra-Vert and Cross Step are fresh new projects aimed at giving young Cornish people a new and accessible way to improve themselves and help get them into jobs, courses or apprenticeships.

The Xtra-Vert crew got a chance to show off some skateboard and BMX tricks on the impressive ramp that they have been constructing over the last four months as part of their intensive carpentry training and they also each received £100 of power tools for successful completion of the course. The Cross Step graduates received their brand new national qualifications in surf coaching and lifeguarding and after the ceremony demonstrated their new skills by taking guests for a free surf lesson on Great Western Beach.

Jodi Redgrove of the Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) worked closely with Chris Thomson, Managing Director of Errant Surf Holidays and Cornwall Business Awards’ Young Business Person of the Year 2009, to set up Cross Step and with Will Woolnough, a carpenter and skater based in Newquay, to set up the Xtra-Vert scheme.

Xtra-Vert is based in St Day and of the nine young people from across Cornwall who started the course all nine successfully came through to complete it. Over the four months Will taught them a range of carpentry skills, including furniture construction and stud walling, so that they could also work on the construction of the skate ramp, which consists of a 4ft mini ramp and half pipe with a bowl and two 6ft extension turrets. The structure is specially designed to be dismantled into modules and can be
transported to different venues and events. It can now be hired out and the team has already been commissioned to build a new, bigger ramp that will be taken to festivals next summer.

Before the Xtra-Vert scheme all of the participants were out of work or education. Due to the success of the initial skate ramp project four of the Xtra-Verts, Jack Latham Byrne aged 21 from Watergate, Matt Duff aged 21 from Grampound Road, Luke West aged 17 from St Austell and James Follett aged 19 from Newquay, are now able to apply for full-time jobs with RIO to stay on and build the festival skate ramps and other commissions that have started coming through to Xtra-Vert. James Penfold, aged 20 from Wadebridge, has gained enough skills and qualifications to be taken on as an apprentice for a two year term with an external company. Charlie Banfield aged 16, Luke Keogh aged 17, both from Truro, Jack Gardener aged 21 from Bodmin and Herb aged 16 from St Agnes are all reentering education.

Chris and his team at Errant have spent the last three months putting Cross Step students Thomas Jarman aged 24, Naomi Jane Webb aged 23, both from Falmouth and Mitch Andrew Corbett aged 22 from Newquay, through a specially designed training programme. They have graduated with a NARS Beach Lifeguard Award and a British Surfing Association (BSA) Award, which will allow them to work anywhere in the world as surf instructors and lifeguards. Naomi has gone on to secure a position at Falmouth Surf School and Thomas is keen to get into surf coaching and lifeguarding abroad. Mitch meanwhile is going on to be an ambassador for RIO, helping to spread the word about the organisation. In return RIO has agreed to sponsor him in surf contests over the next year.

The action packed afternoon gave businesses, youth workers, other young people, employment agencies, policy makers and funders from across the South West the opportunity to see what the innovative Cross Step and Xtra-Vert schemes are all about and to talk to the young people directly about their experiences.

Xtra-Vert James Follett was out of work for six months previous to joining the scheme and says, “I heard about the project from my Aunty who works for a youth club. The course has been immense, I didn’t think this sort of stuff existed. It has made me more organised, more confident and obviously I have learnt valuable carpentry skills that I can use to get employment. I am really hoping that I can work for RIO and carry on at Xtra-Vert.”

Luke West adds, “I took on the course because skating is my life and I love working with wood and getting the chance to be creative with it. The fact that Xtra-Vert combines both is fantastic, it’s opened up so many doors.’

Mitch Corbett says of the Cross Step scheme, “I am really stoked to be going on to be an ambassador for RIO as they do such great work with young people. Because of Cross Step I now have qualifications that can help me get a job and compete in surf competitions all over the world. It’s a real bonus to have proper qualifications in something I enjoy doing.”

Jodi Redgrove, founder and Project Manager of the schemes says, “It was a really great afternoon and it was fantastic to see the Xtra-Vert crew and the Cross Step graduates showing off their new skills and work to so many interested and influential people. They have every right to be extremely proud of their achievements and we are really pleased to see them taking their new found skills onto other projects, further training, apprenticeships and employment. We’ve had such good outcomes from these schemes because we’ve been able to tap into something that is not only relevant and exciting for young people but is also sustainable and useful.”

For more information about Cross Step and Xtra-Vert please visit www.xtra-vert.com or email jodi.redgrove@realideas.org.

Groundswell was set up with the aims of inspiring and educating young surfers aged 13 -21 in Britain.

With surfing as the backbone of the foundation, Groundswell will provide education in many areas such as marketing, business management, entrepreneurship, video editing, beach life guarding, surf coaching and PR to name a few.

Using short workshops and on-going projects with well placed work placements in the surf industry Groundswell will set out to bridge the gap between young people and employment in or around the surfing and tourism industry.

Groundswell will also make professional surf coaching accessible for young up and coming surfers, who may miss out on more mainstream opportunities due to lack of finance.

A1Surf.com will help promote Groundswell to its large community of surfers, as well as aim to offer more hands-on experiences.

David Somerville from A1Surf.com said: “Groundswell is an organisation with some great aims and intentions.

“We will help to spread its message to our online surfing community and also offer some practical and educational experiences for young surfers.

“We are really proud to be on-board supporting Groundswell, especially if it can help inspire more young surfers to progress within the industry and competitively too.”

Chris Thomson, one of the team behind Groundswell, said: “The Groundswell team are very happy to have A1Surf.com onboard as a business sponsor, offering up more opportunities for our groms via work placement and coverage for the surfers hoping to build a better CV be it for employment or a professional career in surfing.”