Unwanted wood given new life at country centre

The Duke of Richmond performed the ceremony and watched the scheme in action.

He saw the workshop where doors, skirting boards and left-over wood are turned into items like composters, bird tables and bird houses by the centre's clients with learning difficulties.

Some of the wood is simply sold on, after being sorted and having any nails removed, to members of the public in the centre's shop.

The Duke watched that process and also saw the clients learning to use the till in the centre's shop. The centre's operator, the Aldingbourne Trust charity, is using the recycling scheme to provide training and jobs for its clients as it moves the initiative towards becoming a stand-alone business by 2010.

Centre manager Peter Stanley said the initiative had proved popular since its start last December. Business is brisk in a 15 square mile area around the centre off the A27.

The 15 tonnes of wood a month, which comes mainly from the Bognor Regis and Chichester areas, would otherwise be sent to landfill sites.