A 24-year-old man from Mullion is one of the 885 people who has benefited from a lottery-funded project and he has told his story as the National Lottery turns 25 years old.

In the west of Cornwall many people are supported by Who Dares Works into education, training or employment.

Over the years the Cornish Community Interest Company Active Plus (Veterans Inspiring People) has been awarded several lottery grants to work with individuals in the community.

It was thrilled to be awarded a grant to start up the Who Dares Works project as part of the Building Better Opportunities programme.

The National Lottery's first draw took place on November 19, 1994, and since then more than £40 billion has been raised for good causes in the areas of arts, sport, heritage and community.

Since Bill Gibbons joined the project April 2018, he’s endured an astonishing transformation and is now set for a career in the construction industry as an apprentice bricklayer.

He said: “I feel like I’ve been reborn, like I’ve traded in the old version of myself for a new version, Bill 2.0 if you like.”

The 24-year-old had been suffering with depression since he was a teenager and even before then he remembers being an agitated child, continuously tapping to relax himself, so he started drumming and went on to complete a music degree.

The start of what was meant to be a brilliant future began to swiftly crumble as work began to bring on more and more stress.

Bill started experiencing panic attacks and during a gym session he collapsed. Eventually he recovered, but only temporarily.

A country break with his fiancée was intended to bring some much-desired respite, but it soon became a nightmare.

Bill suffered several seizures and the holiday ended with him in a wheelchair for the next few months.

As he fought to recover the use of his legs, Bill’s mental health nurse referred him to Who Dares Works.

Even though he was still in a wheelchair and experiencing the occasional seizure, he completed the six-week Active Plus course.

He said: “It was amazing, like finding a second family that I could belong to, being the person, I wanted to become. Plus, it was fun doing puzzles and activities.”

It gave Bill the confidence to start reducing his medication.

He began studying for a health and safety qualification and completed numerous work-related activities.

After two months his strength began to return, and his seizures significantly reduced.

Bill and his mentor discussed an eight-week training programme in the construction industry – a partnership between Coastline Housing, builders Mi-Space, the Work Skills Training Academy at Cornwall College and projects including Who Dares Works.

“I was attracted by the programme even though I was still in a wheelchair because I had started to walk on crutches and had come off sleeping tablets. I was still quite hesitant because I thought I couldn’t do much but was prepared to give it a go,” said Bill.

He admitted the start of the construction training was fairly intimidating, especially being back in the classroom. But he passed his Construction Safety Card test first time and hasn’t looked back.

“It was a little bit scary to begin with, but I loved it, it was fantastic.”

He spent his first two weeks with other participants where they developed their construction skills on projects, at Nansloe Academy and Epworth Hall in Helston.

He was then paired with a sub-contractor building houses on the Mi-Space/Coastline site.

“I’d never laid a brick before in my life,” he confessed. But he was so determined to get it right that in under three weeks Bill had been offered a bricklaying apprenticeship.

Bill is now working as a labourer. He receives valuable knowledge while continuing to pursue a bricklaying apprenticeship.

But he said he wouldn’t be in such a healthy place without the assistance of his mental health nurse and Who Dares Works: “I might have got the use of my legs back eventually but without you guys I wouldn’t be as happy, as confident or mentally developed as I am now."