I love Mondays! The girls are dispatched on to their school bus, a quick clear up of breakfast things, and I'm off. The journey in itself is a treat. Roof down, I usually leave Half Tree Hollow in blazing sunshine, climb up the hill to St. Paul's and beyond, quickly leaving the orange dust behind, barely out of second gear. Within five minutes I have entered a different landscape and climate zone. The chilly mist of low cloud, swathes of ferns and flax, and ancient knarled trees dripping in lichen line the roadside. I catch glimpses through the cloud of Diana and the other central island high peaks. Spiralling back down hairpin bends, the stunning rocks, the pillar of Lot and the coast at Sandy Bay on the south side of the island come into view. And beneath me the lush green hamlet, and bright rooftops of upper Sandy Bay. Here huge banana and fig trees line the road, and in the heart the Hamlet, my destination-SHAPE.

On the site of an old village School, SHAPE is St Helena's Active Participation in Enterprise. The title gives some clue as to what it is, but there is so much to SHAPE. Essentially SHAPE is an organisation that exists to provide meaningful, achievable and interesting work and skills development to Saints who have disabilities or learning difficulties. Each day around 20 members are bussed in to Sandy Bay and are supported to produce a wonderful range of hand crafted products.

The support comes from a dedicated and immensely creative staff team. In one old classroom Julie works with around 5 young girls to make candles, soaps, and create beads out of cereal packets which are strung into necklaces. They work together, drawing on their strengths. One girl has difficulty walking, but once in her chair she has great dexterity with her hands and is the best at rolling the card strips into tight beads. Two others both have one hand that does not function properly, so one holds the thread and the other places the bead on the thread, together they have two good hands to string a necklace. A lady who is blind then crafts a loop fastener out of tiny beads. Next door Rosedale works with a small team to weave wonderful creations out of flax. In a corner two ladies card shabby, grubby strands of wool, and spin it into a beautiful rustic yarn using traditional wooden spinning wheels, that look like they are straight out of a fairy tale. Dani likes to be more active so she melts soap on an electric hob, pouring it in to moulds, filling the room with wonderful lavender and rose scents. All the time across the room and between the two rooms friendly chat and banter continues.

In a large shed to the back of the school several men are working on creating recycled paper. Shredding, soaking, shaping and drying happens here. They work with a steady discipline, taking pride in their part of the process.

Woody's office is where the dried recycled paper ends up. The colours and shades of the paper give a clue as to its origins; the pale grey is recycled paper, a light beige from the flax, and the most surprising; a deep indigo from recycled old jeans!

David proudly shows me one of the beautifully crafted scrapbooks that is made from the recycled paper. They are a work of art, and all the more so because they are crafted out of nothing, rubbish, materials that are otherwise useless.

The flax paper is also cut to size and Woodys creative talent comes in to play for beautifully printed labels and packaging. these give the products a thoroughly professional image and make them ready to sell in Jamestown's Arts and craft Centre. The products are beautiful and contemporary, and priced so low that our tourists can't get enough of them. Demand for the products is so high that people can request a scrapbook and wait 6 months for it.

I have been to shape for four Mondays now, and from the start have been so warmly welcomed, I feel like I have become a part of the SHAPE family.

I'm working on developing the volunteer programme; identifying and promoting volunteer needs, and preparing an application form and information pack for volunteers. I'm also going to be helping SHAPE'S members to put together portfolios with their c.v.'s, and to find outside work placements.

So a lot of my time there is spent in a side office working on a p.c. But I always save an hour at the end of the day to spend in the classroom with the girls, rolling beads and threading necklaces. It's like therapy, there's something very special about creating something beautiful out of rubbish. And in such happy company.