Life skills, such as cookery and DIY are to be taught at a project launched 25 years ago in a lock-up building.

The Keighley Furniture Project is setting up the courses at its Springfield Mills base in Oakworth Road.

And in line with its re-cycling ethos - its core work is providing and restoring furniture for people on benefits - it is also setting up a white goods restoration service

The project has grown rapidly following a £600,000 grant from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal fund and the European Regional Development Fund about four years ago.

Students are already being recruited into the DIY and cookery skills classes.

Among them are 43-year-old Darren Dunne of Bradford and Dominic Powell of Cowling, near Skipton.

Dominic said: "I love cooking and have enjoyed it since I was ten. I help my mum all the time and sometimes cook for her."

Staff, led by one of the founder volunteers and now manager Ann Sheriff, are now preparing for an open day on Wednesday, June 8.

Spearheading the training courses, validated by the Qualification Curriculum Authority, is Douglas Morgan.

He said: "The aim of the DIY courses is to give single parents the life skills to do work themselves and to spend their money on the important things, such as better quality food. And our courses in the kitchen are geared at teaching how to eat healthier."

In the summer, they are hoping to encourage clients to get involved in literacy and numeracy classes.

Mrs Sheriff said: "When we bought the mill we realised what an opportunity there was to expand.

"There was a canteen here and we knew we could provide good healthy food for our clients and eventually open it up for training.

"These are down-to-earth practical courses which we know people need."

The DIY project involved creating ten special bays where students could learn skills ranging from wiring a plug to plastering a wall, she added.

Two qualified electricians had been employed - increasing the staff to 12 - to restore white goods such as cookers and washing machines

The project is non-profit-making and all the money collected through the sale of the furniture, along with any rents for lets of other parts of the building, is ploughed back into the development.

It was set up in the late 1970s when furniture was stored in a lock-up building in Keighley and made available to people on disabilities.