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Hearth-felt donation to city college

27 August 2008

A Sheffield engineering company has extended a warm gesture to a city college with a £10,000 donation.

MFH Engineering Ltd, based in the city centre, made the generous donation to Freeman College, part of Ruskin Mill Educational Trust (RMET), to help the college fund three new forging hearths for its educational workshops.

The new hearths will take pride of place in the college's flagship site at Sterling Works in the heart of the city.

Students and tutors will use the hearths to heat pieces of metal to a temperature of 600 degrees Farenheit which will then be cooled and forged into cutlery in a process called annealing.

Steve Harmston, MFH Group Operations Director, said: "Freeman College is a fantastic charity and we are delighted to make the donation.

"To witness the work the College does with the students and the contribution the College is making to Sheffield's industrial heritage is tremendous.

"Engineering is obviously something very close to our hearts at MFH, so we are pleased to have developed this relationship with the College and we are hoping to extend this further by inviting a student for a work placement at our company in the near future."

Sheffield's Freeman College, which was founded in 2005, is one of three colleges established by RMET and offers a wide range of education and training to 16 to 25-year-olds with autistic spectrum disorders and developmental delay.

The College opened its Butcher Works site in December last year and, more recently in May, the neighbouring Sterling Works was unveiled - a former 18th century cutlery works now converted by the college into spectacular modern facilities for on-site teaching, craft workshops, a coffee shop, a student refectory and bakery.

David Heugh, Director of Fundraising at Freeman College, said: "We are very pleased that a major Sheffield engineering company is recognising the work we are doing with young people. The forging hearths are an integral part of the manufacturing process and our students would not have the latest equipment without the generous support of MFH Ltd."

Categories: Freeman College