A BMW car built by a team of young lads as part of a local garage’s youth project, is the star prize in a raffle raising money for charity.
The KP Youth Project was launched at the beginning of the year by the owners of KP Garage and Body Shop on the Westbury Industrial Estate, Dave Keay and Luke Pinnell. The project involved 10 young people designing and building a one-off BMW 330i M car.
The aim of the project was to help keep local youths off the streets and to give them something to focus their energies on by teaching them about the mechanical and body shop side of car maintenance.
The car was displayed at last month’s Forge Action Day motoring event at Castle Combe and will now be raffled, with the money raised being shared equally between the next project and the national charity UK Youth, who provided support for the project.
Speaking to White Horse News, Dave said, “To say the project was amazing would be an understatement. Building the car was about 10% of what the project was about – the focus was more on giving work experience to these young people, giving them life skills for when they leave school. The project has helped to build their confidence and has got them talking. It is something that they can all be proud of – it has been a great success!
“One lad involved originally wanted to join the navy when he left school, but is now signed up to a mechanics course at Wiltshire College because of his involvement in the project.”
Tickets, costing £5, for the raffle to win the car can be purchased from the project’s website: www.kpyouthproject.co.uk
The winning ticket will be drawn at the garage’s open day to be held on Sunday 4th November at Christ Church Hall in Warminster. At the event there will be more information about how interested young people can get involved in the next project.
