Bradford & District | Archive | 2001 | December | 07
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Friday 7th Dec 2001.
A Coronation Street star will come to Keighley this month to present end-of-year awards to job trainees.
Clare McGlinn, who plays teacher Charlie Ramsden in the TV soap, has been invited to the Russell Street Project.
She will present dozens of students with qualifications gained on vocational courses throughout the year.
Usually the awards are presented by a local politician or local dignitary in front of past and present trainees and their family.
This time staff decided to find someone better known to the trainees.
Helen Desort, the project administrator, says one of the tutor's daughters lives in Manchester and is friends with some of the Coronation Street cast.
She approached Clare, who is a keen community volunteer, to ask if she would visit the Russell Street Project.
She will be joined on the rostrum by Keighley Cougars player Jason Ramshaw, who has worked with the project for several years.
The project was set up five years ago to provide job-based training, and has currently helped 700 people find employment.
Originally aimed at teenagers who left school with no qualifications, the courses soon proved popular with people of all ages.
The current 150 trainees include long-term unemployed, Asian women, students of Oakbank and Greenhead Schools and a 72-year-old man.
Dick Taylor, principal at the project, says Clare is the ideal person to make the presentations, and news of her visit has already boosted the students.
He adds: "With her background in community work, she'll understand what we're doing and how we're doing it. It's great to get someone from outside Keighley."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008