Supporting our future stone masons

We recently received this lovely letter from someone who had been on the course, and had also visited our mine at Limpley Stoke. It truly has made our day and we are so pleased that this person got so much out of the visit and has taken the time to say thank you.

We are hopefully all more aware of the importance of mental health, both at work and at home, and if this doesn’t spur us all on to try and do more to help then we are not sure what will.

Read the letter in full below (the person has kindly given us permission to publish this).

Hi Matthew,

Having been an Adult Community Learner at Bath College for some years now, I just wanted to say a massive ‘Thank You’ for the stone you donate to all the college’s stonemasonry courses.

When I first signed up to the ‘introduction to stone masonry’ course, I was really struggling with my mental health (generalised anxiety disorder and anorexia nervosa). I was lacking purpose in life, being unable to work due to my mental health. I had extremely low confidence and poor self-esteem. I lived every day full of anxiousness. I was petrified of new environments and meeting new people, so even signing up to the course in itself was petrifying.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m in a very different position. I love stone. I love being creative, I love learning, I love the friends I’ve made on the course, and I especially love giving back by being part of community-based projects. As a stone masonry group, we’ve created animal sculptures for both Twerton Primary School and Twerton Infants School, for the pupils to engage with and enjoy in their outdoor play areas – how cool is that.

I’m now back in employment, supporting others with mental health needs in the community, as a Peer Recovery & Wellbeing Worker. I still enjoy going to college to keep learning and more importantly continuing to have fun with stone.

So, I just wanted to share a bit of my story, to let you know how much of a positive impact your kindness toward Bath College has on its students. Not only do you donate stone, you donate… opportunity, learning, connection with others, and improved health and wellbeing. You really do pay in forward and you create ripples of kindness in the wider community.

I visited the mine on a trip with our college tutor back in June last year. It was fascinating. Not only did I learn about the mine, what shone through was your passion and genuine care and focus on employee safety and well being. You may remember on that visit, a young lady whose head was too small for the safety helmet, and you had to put some padding and plasters to secure it inside for it to fit (well, that was me!!!). I left the mine with real respect for the organisation and how passionate you are to supporting your employees, as well as the wider community.

So, in appreciation, I have created a piece of artwork for you to put up in the office area of the mine. It’s just a reminder of how appreciated you all are at the mine.

Thank you.