About Us

On a usual day in our Pitsea facilities, visitors will see a team of adults enjoying one another’s company as they work together to create a variety of wooden crafts, sort the stocks of timber on site or prepare refreshments.  While fun, there is also a serious purpose behind the activity.  New Life Wood (NLW) is a registered charity in Pitsea, Essex that transforms & restores lives.  We do this by providing training & development opportunities for disadvantaged adults in the South Essex community.  This means that they can learn new skills, build confidence & self-esteem, and when possible, gain access to paid employment opportunities in the wider workplace.  We also provide a surplus wood collection service to the construction industry, which keeps waste timber out of landfills and protects the environment.  Retail sales of timber & products made from reclaimed timber, along with income received from our wood collections, help fund our work.  We are supported by a small, expert staff team and a wonderful group of volunteers.

Background

NLW was born out of a need identified by its founder trustees that people leaving prison and detention in mental health facilities find it extremely difficult to get a job, with resultant poverty issues.  As Christians, they were led to respond with compassion & perseverance which led to New Life Wood being registered as charity #1176061 on 4th December 2017.  The charity is open to all but is still led by a team of trustees responding to their faith as Christians.

All operations are based in the lovely Wat Tyler Country Park in Pitsea, Essex using an old laboratory building for shop, office & workshop plus a recently built wood store.

Mission & Vision

The objectives of New Life Wood are simply expressed in the following statements:

  • Recycling Lumber, Reducing Landfill and Restoring Lives 

  • Taking lives and goods that others would discard and providing the means to see those lives and goods renewed to become a valued part of our community.

Our mission statement as recorded with the Charities Commission is: “To relieve unemployment for the benefit of the public in Essex, by the provision of opportunities for volunteering, training and work experience to increase their employability by means of a wood recycling project based in Pitsea; and to relieve financial hardship by the provision of courses in money management and debt counselling.”

Partners

NLW is a member of the national ‘Community Wood Recycling’ network.  This supports NLW and other timber recycling organisations to develop additional waste wood sources for us as well as supporting awareness of our work.  It also provides access to quality training which meets required standards across the network.

NLW has also developed relationships with several mental health, social care and education organisations locally that have generated opportunities for many individuals and groups to benefit from our services.

Operations

Each week, waste wood collection opportunities in and adjacent to South Essex are arranged and drivers / loaders are dispatched in the NLW truck to collect these.  On return, the wood is sorted with usable timber moved to the wood store & any unusable scrap is assigned to be recycled as woodchip.  Timber in the store is available for retail sale to the general public and businesses or for use in the workshops.  Here, it is used for training purposes by the placements who usually visit one day per week and make simpler items for sale in our on-site shop.  As placements progress, some can assist staff in making more elaborate items for sale (to individuals or businesses) in support of NLW operations.  Financial and other training is also offered to placements as needed.  Regular contacts are also made with referrers of the placements to review their needs and determine next steps in their support.