GARY Weston is incredibly laid back when he talks about a job that saved his life.

An alcoholic who has been unemployed for six years, the 32-year-old, from Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, admits that his life has transformed since he first started working as a volunteer at GalGael's ­Govan workshop.

Now recruited as an ­apprentice on an 18-month Anchor and Sail programme set up between the GalGael Trust and Clyde Maritime Trust, he will gain a City & Guilds qualification in boatbuilding and says for the first time in years he can see light at the end of the tunnel; the hope of a brighter future.

Gary said: "I'd gone into rehabilitation but what I was finding was that I didn't have anything to do.

"I was getting so far and just became bored and ended up having a drink. I got into GalGael and it gave me something to focus on.

"If I kept drinking it would have killed me. I had to stop but I needed these kind of things in place to help me and it really has.

"Getting the apprenticeship has just topped it off and given me something to focus on for the next year and a half, which is the ­important part for me."

The ancient skills of boatbuilding might not seem particularly relevant in the 21st Century but the expertise Gary will learn over the next year and a half are transferable and could see him finding work anywhere from a boatyard to a joinery workshop.

"I like the different challenges you get here," he says in the workshop at the Tall Ship where he is learning new skills every day in the massive restoration job of the Starcrest, a carvel- planked-hull boat that is about 90-years-old and needs extensive repairs.

"Every day I come in here there's something different to do.

"Every day you're learning something new. When I was working before I had a house and a mortgage, I have a couple of kids and I lost it all through the drinking. I'm just trying to ­rebuild my life and this has helped me a lot.

"When I wasn't working I just felt useless, as if I wasn't putting anything back into society."

Heritage Lottery Funding of £325,600 plus £32,167 from Historic Scotland set up the Anchor and Sail ­Project a few months ago, allowing four apprentices to keep the vital skills of boatbuilding alive.

The project is based across both partner's workshops and will result in four new traditional boats built for the people of Glasgow.

In addition more than 200 local people will volunteer on the project, helping to build the boats and learning traditional skills and traditions.

Out of work since 2006, 35-year-old Alan Matthews, from Milton, is Gary's fellow apprentice based at the Tall Ship. He found his way to GalGael after being laid off from his job in computer technical support.

"Unfortunately, there are not a lot of opportunities out there," he says.

"I was beginning to suffer panic attacks and it was all due to being unemployed."

His talent for working with wood was spotted when he was volunteering at GalGael and he was asked if he would be interested in becoming an apprentice. Not he sees exciting new horizons opening up for him overseas.

"I would like to stay and work in the west of Scotland but if there was an opportunity to move to Canada and get a skilled work visa I wouldn't be averse to that," he says.

"I could go there when I finish here as we are getting experience on the job every day."

Just a few weeks into the apprenticeship and Alan's confidence has soared.

As well as learning about woodworking, working with power tools and being part of a team, he says the encouraging yet relaxed atmosphere at the workshop has given his life new purpose.

"I'd say to anyone if they are curious about work like this, go to a place like GalGael and get some skills as a volunteer," says Alan.

"I suffered from shyness and social phobia, it's a barrier to work. Now I have a feeling of self worth, I feel my life has direction and I have control over it again."

GalGael works with people who have ended up on the fringes of society. Mostly they are unemployed and often they battle with serious addictions.

Their work is centered on restoring a sense of self worth and a sense of belonging and in many ways it is surprisingly simple. They offer a workplace that challenges, inspires and creates the conditions conducive to learning.

Over the past few years they have been involved in a wide range of projects including producing the wooden handle of the Queen's Baton for the Commonwealth Games using traditional boatbuilding techniques.

Some people find themselves drawn towards GalGael from very different backgrounds.

Art school graduate Catherine Weir has swapped life in video art for the tools of the trade of boatbuilding.

Based at GalGael's Govan workshop, the 30-year-old from Battlefield in Glasgow's South Side will spend the next 18 months helping to build from scratch a 20-foot long traditional wooden clinker skiff, based on the boats that used to follow the herring along the coast.

After volunteering at GalGael for a few years, she knew this was the direction she wanted to move her career on.

"I'm still involved in the arts so theoretically I could be a freelance technician for galleries, a lot of that involves building temporary walls," explains Catherine.

"Hopefully this will make me a handy person but I'd love to work with boats."

She adds: "This is a much healthier life, I feel physically exhausted rather than having square eyes from looking at a computer all day. I generally just feel happier and stronger.

"It's a really nice group and GalGael - I've never been anywhere like it in terms of energy. I know this is not what to expect from future workshops. This place is pretty special."

To find out more about apprenticeships on the Anchor and Sail project or to volunteer at GalGael, visit www.galgael.org.

angela.mcmanus@eveningtimes.co.uk