A Newcastle social enterprise keeping teenagers away from crime and a state-of-the-art maritime training school were 'honoured' with visits from Princess Anne this week.
The Princess Royal visited the North East on Tuesday, also making a stop at Northumbria University.
Her Royal Highness presented two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Enterprise to the team behind The Skill Mill.
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Founded in Newcastle in 2013 and now operating in 13 locations across the country, The Skill Mill employs ex-offenders aged between 16 and 18, offering them work with partner organisations as well as accredited training in a bid to improve their life chances and keep them away from crime.
Her Royal Highness met the social enterprise team at Exhibition Park, where the reformed criminals work with park managers Urban Green to maintain and enhance the park.
After presenting the awards, she planted an apple tree to commemorate The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, which is being celebrated across the country this year.
David Parks, managing director and founder of The Skill Mill, said: “It is an incredible honour to have met with Her Royal Highness, we are very grateful to her for visiting and seeing the work we do and presenting us with the Queen’s Awards.
“To be awarded one Queen’s Award is an incredible achievement by any standards, to get two is something none of us could ever have imagined, and especially being a social enterprise. It’s fantastic recognition for our staff, partners and the young people we employ – they’ve all shown such resilience and fortitude in the past two years to grow our services and increase our geographic reach and help more young people into work and away from crime.
“Covid-19 has impacted young people’s labour market hardest and especially for those on the margins. We aim to build on this recognition and continue the next steps on our journey and it has made us even more determined to increase opportunity and sustainability through our work.
"More than anything these awards say that we are a trusted business, a caring employer and a great company to do business with and we welcome enquiries from likeminded organisations who want to work with us.”
Urban Green board chair Jim Beirne added: “We are delighted for The Skill Mill that their fantastic work is being recognised with not just one but two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, and are honoured that they have chosen to receive their Awards in Exhibition Park. It is a brilliant achievement, and well deserved.
"Our partnership with The Skill Mill reflects the shared values of both organisations, and is a great example of how we can improve our parks and allotments for local residents, while at the same time providing the perfect space for young people to learn skills and gain confidence. We look forward to building on this rewarding partnership going forwards.”
Meanwhile, Her Royal Highness also used the North East visit to view the award-winning maritime training centre at South Shields Marine School.
In 2019, the school received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its ground-breaking innovation in advanced 3D modelling and this week enjoyed a royal visit in honour of the award.
The school, which was the world’s first purpose-built maritime training centre and hands on delivers expertise to trainee mariners from the UK and overseas, uses the techinque to help naval architects in their design and implementation of real-world projects., such as helping Kazakhstan’s state oil company to develop a new port and waterway for the expansion of the Tenzig oilfield on the Caspian Sea.
Among those welcoming Her Royal Highness were Dr Lindsey Whiterod CBE, Chief Executive of Tyne Coast College, of which the marine school is part, as well as school cadets, staff and South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck.
Dr Whiterod said: “The Princess’s visit was a highlight in the long and distinguished history of South Shields Marine School.
“The marine school’s work in 3D modelling is exceptional and rightly deserves to be recognised, as does its entire body of training and research.
“I’m delighted The Princess saw our facilities and met our skilled team and our motivated cadets, who represent a new generation of Merchant Navy seafarers.
“I very much hope she enjoyed her time with us and was impressed by the incredibly high standard of training the marine school delivers.”
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