5:30pm Tuesday 16th March 2010
By David Watkinson
A TEENAGE carpenter has won a top award from Prince Charles after completing a scheme that saw him working on Windsor Castle.
Matthew Leybourne, 19, a self-employed carpenter from Windermere Drive, Rishton, graduated as a Prince of Wales’s Building Craft Apprentice, receiving a certificate from the Prince himself.
In an eight-month project Matthew built a new sash window for the Queen’s dining room at the castle as well as building a new door and completing several other maintenance jobs.
He specialises in ‘heritage carpentry’ and said that the experience of working at Windsor Castle was ‘amazing’.
The former St Augustine’s, Billington, pupil said: “It was a fantastic experience and although I was working in many private rooms of the castle I did not see any members of the Royal family.”
He was presented with his certificate from Prince Charles at the Shoreditch headquarters of The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment on March 10.
Matthew, who was recently named the Batjic North West Apprentice of the Year, also took up a placement at the historic Lincoln Cathedral, working on the roof and also replacing windows.
He is also set to appear on an episode of Channel 4’s Country House Rescue, where he was working on a restoration project in Devon.
He said: “I got involved with the Prince’s Trust after a seeing an advert at Accrington and Rossendale College, where I was studying.
“It has been amazing and I really enjoyed the chance to meet Prince Charles last week.
“I have now been offered work all across the country but I’m hoping to stay around here because this is my home.”
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