Military Life
Covenant Gold Award for Firm That Took on Homeless Apprentice
A small decorating company based in Merthyr Tydfil has become the first Welsh employer to strike Gold in the Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Awards.
Dai Rees, Managing Director of DJ Rees Decorating Services was presented with the award by HRH The Duke of Cambridge.
The small company received the Gold award for honouring its pledge to the Armed Forces Covenant, exemplified in their support of a local boy in difficult circumstances.
Paul Matthews was homeless for two years from the age of 15 and spent time sleeping in a graveyard and washing in a river.
Despite this he went on to pass seven GCSEs at school and was taken on as an apprentice at D.J. Rees decorating firm in Merthyr Tydfil.
The company knew he was set on joining the Army, and so gave him the skills and confidence he would need to make it.
He is now starting his new life with the Royal Logistics Corps as a driver.
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