Miracle Working Angler Throws Troubled Youngsters A Lifeline

MIRACLE working fisherman Tom Carroll, who thought he was on the scrap heap himself after illness laid him low, is now helping shoals of troubled youngsters to turn their own lives around.

Tom feared he'd never work again after 10 years on benefits. Instead, he has turned his love of angling into a coaching business to help some of the area's most troubled youngsters change track.

"I was at the end of my tether and felt lower than a snake's belly, when I attempted to return to work and failed. A friend recommended I contact national charity Shaw Trust, which changed my life," says Tom, 49, from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

"Now I see the changes in the youngsters who come to us and it gives me goose bumps. It's brilliant."

Tom admits he was a broken man when he came to Shaw Trust, which provides training and work opportunities to people disadvantaged in the labour market by disability, ill health or social circumstances.

Tom, who has osteo-arthritis and had suffered a mild stroke, says arranging an initial chat with Shaw Trust's Newton Aycliffe Project Officer Diane Stabler in 2005 was one of the best decisions he'd ever made.

Diane says everyone is full of respect for Tom and the story of how he transformed his life is on the leaflet handed to prospective clients, and motivates everyone who reads it.

"He was a man destroyed when he first arrived," she recalls. "He had written himself off and was at the end of his tether.

"Now you couldn't fail to admire what he has achieved. The relationship he has with the youngsters is magical. He treats them with respect, not as second-class citizens because they've got a record, and they respond magnificently."

With Diane's help, Tom was able to look at the kind of employment opportunities available and, having broached the possibility of some kind of teaching, he embarked on the course to train to be an angling coach. Shaw Trust helped by seeking funding sources and the equipment he needed to set up.

Tom qualified to become a level two coaching instructor in angling and launched his own business, Fishing with Tom.

Despite ongoing health problems which often leave him in pain, Tom runs his business for 16 hours a week, much of it working with youngsters aged between six and 17, many of whom are in secure facilities, or tagged or awaiting sentencing.

Passionate about angling since a small child, Tom says he was motivated to do something to help youngsters.

Fishing with Tom works with private clients as well, but most of his work comes from the youngsters sent to him by the County Durham Youth Engagement Service (CDYES). The young people have, through improved behaviour, earned the privilege of a fishing lesson with him.

Depending on the severity of their offences, some will be escorted. Tom treats them all equally.

"Tom accepts young people for his programme regardless of their history and treats them all as individuals, which encourages the improved behaviour and respect they, in turn, show him and my staff. He provides a significant contribution towards our work to divert young people away from crime," comments Dave Carroll, Operations Manager CDYES.

Tom explains: "They come to us and, yes, we teach them fishing, but they also learn how to say please, thank you, excuse me, they shake hands, they don't interrupt and we do away with all the swear words.

"It's a huge learning curve for these kids because sometimes they've never had anyone to sit down and talk to them. A lot of them will have been in secure places. A lot of them will be on electronic tags, a lot will be awaiting sentencing," he adds.

"We've heard back from several of the judges who've sentenced some of these kids and one of the remarks that sticks out for me is 'the young men who's standing in front of me is not the young man who was in front of me 10 weeks ago. Will somebody please tell me what you did with him?'

"The project turns people that quickly and, as a result, they are getting, not a great deal knocked off their sentences, but sometimes reduced sentences because of the work that we've done with them."

Tom says the rewards work both ways: "The changes I see in them make me feel unbelievable. I get a tingle down my spine every time it happens. It's absolutely brilliant and has also been one huge learning curve for myself as I watch them transform themselves.

"At the end of 10 weeks they leave saying please and thank you and 'I really appreciate everything you've done for me'."

The experience, says Tom, helps him deal with aspects of his own life. He would love to run the project full-time but his health won't let him.

"I do suffer a lot of pain while I'm coaching," he admits, "but these kids come with me for a four-hour session and you grin and bear the pain for those hours because at the end of the day I can go back to my nice secure house and they often go back to living a life of hell," he says.

"Most of them have never seen fish. A lot of these kids have nothing."

Tom has now applied for charity status for Fishing with Tom, which will allow him to extend the hours. He is also constantly fund raising and appealing for volunteers, sponsors and donations of equipment, via his website www.fishingwithtom.com

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at the Youth Engagement Service Intensive Supervision & Surveillance Programme and Durham County Council, who have helped to keep this unique project running," adds Tom.

He takes on youngsters referred by the Youth Justice Board and the Council. Clients include 5 to 16 year olds referred by CATS, part of Durham County Council's Children & Young People's Services.

"We use constructive activities to be a positive example and influence on young people and have worked with Tom almost since he started up," explained Tim Hakim, Acting CATS Team Manager.

"We also aim to promote healthy living with our young people and Tom's programmes fit in well with the other work we do using adventurous outdoor pursuits, the arts, sport and gardening projects."

Tom is still in constant contact with Diane at Shaw Trust, and can't praise the help he's received highly enough. He has already recommended several others to the organisation, including his own daughter.

"I was at the end of my tether and lower than a snake's belly," he says. "Shaw Trust has changed my life completely."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. For further details, please contact Marketing Communications Manager Helen Durnion on 18002 01642 371791 (Typetalk - please use all numbers) or PR Officer Becky Gammon on 07779 784901. Or you can email: crucialpr@shaw-trust.org.uk

2. Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve independence. We do this not only by delivering government programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by campaigning to change attitudes at all levels.

3. Across the UK more than 1,200 staff now oversee a diverse range of more than 200 projects.

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