The Carpentry Show

In this episode, Robin Clevett shares two stories from Carpentry and Joinery centred around apprenticeships. First, apprentice Rhys Mitchell joins us to share his journey into the trade, the lessons he’s learned on site, and what it took to reach the finals of the Screwfix Trade Apprentice 2026 competition. We’ll also hear from Mark Bradshaw, Curriculum Manager at Northampton College, who has won awards for his work Carpentry apprentices. From hands-on projects at Delapré Abbey to the challenges facing apprenticeships today, this episode is packed with insight, inspiration, and real stories from the trade.

Sean Matthews joins Robin at the Fix Radio studios to talk about managing customer expectations and the nightmare of dealing with customers when you try to be accomodating and they take the mick in return. Sean also talks about current work, enquiries and challenges faced recently.

Robin Clevett talks to David Byrne, well known for his top quality domestic outdoor/garden builds about his recent challenges bringing in the work. David explains what's been going on, Why he thinks this is happening, What he will do to keep work coming in and Robin shares his own past experiences taking on higher end and more luxury type garden builds for customers.

Robin was recently accused of plagiarism online - despite never having known about the original work. It got Robin thinking about when it's a case of lateral thinking compared to finding inspiration and also talks about when he's noticed people copying his content for their social media. Robin invites Derek Barrett onto the show as an example of someone who has inspired many online and they discuss both sides and whether it's an overall positive or negative for the trade and online community.

Robin Clevett asks the Construction Industry Training Board to join him and address some misgivings from certain areas of the construction industry. Robin asks whether the CITB are still fit for purpose, asks about decisions behind where grants go and how funds are allocated. Robin addresses the frustration many have about NVQs being favoured over other qualifications in order to get a CSCS card and also asks about the 12-week consultation phase we’re now in with regards to proposals for the CITB and ECTIB to merge as one Industry Training Board.

Robin also invites Helen Hewitt from the British Woodworking Federation onto the show for a follow up with regards to where we are after Skills England paused proposals to reduce apprenticeships in length…

…and Christian Hathrell-Good, a leading training provider (Lee Marley Brickwork Ltd) joins the discussion to share good and bad experiences with regards to getting support from the CITB for their training programmes.