Students to shine at Llangollen food festival

The students from the Northop campus of Coleg Cambria will be selling fruit bowls made from vinyl LP records, herbs planted in empty food cans and coasters made from Scrabble tiles at the event on October 19 and 20.

The team, who have additional learning needs, won a competition organised by the festival for students on Independent Living Skills to win a stall at the popular annual event, along with a cash prize of £50.

Tutor and lecturer Helen Young says the group will sell products made during their workskills, crafts and enterprise sessions.

She said: “These products are useful, practical and will raise environmental awareness as some material will be up-cycled. These products have been made by learners with additional needs motivating learners to use skills linked to the world of work.

Achievement

"Each and every item has been created and uniquely crafted from start to finish and each finished item can be viewed as a real achievement for the individual learner who made it.

“We will use the £50 prize to purchase the materials we need to make the coasters as well as buying the seeds we need to make out herb pots.”

Helen hopes company bosses will see the potential of her students and realise they are employable.

“We can and will use Llangollen Food Festival as a platform to demonstrate that our students can come up with good ideas and produce goods that are desirable as those sold by independent traders. I’d love to see some of our learners go onto form their own businesses."

Ariana Harkin, 16, of Afonwen, who has just started at her studies at Coleg Cambria, said: “Coleg Cambria is very different to school. I was at Mold Alun High School and I’ve only just started at the college.

“Making the fruit bowls will be good. We need to heat the records in an oven and then when they are soft making them into a bowl shape.”