ABANDONED wood is being used to build better futures for offenders and the long-term unemployed through an eco-friendly social project.

The Wood Works Wonders initiative offers participants the opportunity to learn trade skills in carpentry by giving them first-hand experience on building projects using wood that has been dumped in landfills.

It could lead to further education, job opportunities and also brings the importance of recycling resources to the forefront.

Based at the Selby Centre, off White Hart Lane, in Tottenham, the project has already saved one tonne of old wood which will be properly aired, treated, sanded and sawed and then used to build its first proper training workshop.

The old wood that is being used would have cost as much as £2,000.

Volunteers will also be able to learn how to make useful items including garden benches and tables, and can pick up core skills such as working in a team, as well as fine-tuning maths skills, such as geometry, which are essential to the craft.

Project leader Joel Minot, an experienced eco-builder, said: "The wood we are using has been thrown away by people who consider it to be useless, but what they don't know is that with a little bit of care, it is very valuable resource.

"It is very much the same with the volunteers. In a way, we are recycling human beings: taking people who are unemployed or doing community service, giving them practical skills and getting them involved in something worthwhile."

At present there are 15 volunteers including those from the Community Payback Scheme — a community sentence under which offenders have to give back through tasks that contribute to an area.

Volunteer Athos Demosthenous, an out of work musician, said: "I have always wanted to learn carpentry, but don't want to be stuck in a classroom all day. That's what attracted me to this project. You turn up and you start working straightaway.

"If you are prepared for the amount of commitment involved, I'd recommend it."

Mr Minot, a driving force behind the Freightliners eco-cafe at an urban farm in Islington, set up Wood Works Wonders with the help of a grant from Haringey Council's Safer Communities Fund, but hopes it will blossom into a self-funding social enterprise by selling recycled wood to the public.

It is also a member of the Reuse Network and the National Wood Recycling Network.

A future vision is to help refurbish the ageing Selby Centre, on the old site of Tottenham County School, in Selby Road, and turn it into an environmental hub.

Managed by the Selby Trust, a charity, the centre houses more than 100 different organisations offering training and activities to Haringey's diverse community.

If you have been unemployed for more than six months and want to learn carpentry skills contact Wood Works Wonders by emailing joelminot@hotmail.com or raffickbaccus@yahoo.co.uk