On Friday 27^th September, MJ Church joined forces with BAM Construction Training and Help for Heroes to provide serving and ex-military personnel with the opportunity to gain an insight into the construction industry.

Help for Heroes supports those with injuries and illnesses attributable to their service in the British Armed Forces, this includes looking beyond illness and injury by providing support in regaining their purpose in areas such as employment. MJ Church has worked with the Charity to provide insights into working in the construction industry with workshops at one of the Help for Heroes’ recovery centres, Tedworth House, in Tidworth. The ‘Digger Driving Day’ provided an excellent opportunity to have a go in some of the modern construction plant fleet that MJ Church operate under the professional eye of BAM CT’s expert trainers. The day focused on heavy construction plant with a MJ Church 30 tonne articulated dump truck and a BAM CT 14 tonne tracked 360 excavator, as well as the use of drones in the construction industry.

MJ Church recruits and trains many of their own operatives, with a growing pipeline of work across the South West. The company like many in the industry struggles to recruit.

Carol Heneghan, Group Business Services Manager commented: “Whilst everyone had an opportunity to have go on the plant and have a bit of fun, the real positive from the day is the opening up of dialogue between a highly skilled group who are looking to get into employment and an employer who is looking to grow its workforce. Through MJ Church and BAM CT we are able to take military tickets and convert these to civilian licences with support from various CITB and government grants.”

Doug Thomson, Career Recovery Manager South at Help for Heroes said: “The day was absolutely fantastic for all and demonstrated how the construction industry are breaking down barriers; regardless of physical or mental injury or illness, there is a route into construction. We are now working with a number of those that attended the day to get into the industry as a result of the inspiration they came away with. Overall, it was a great success and we look forward to working with MJ Church and BAM CT in the future.”