Mayor and Mayoress pay Training @ Hopwood a visit

Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale, Cllr James Gartside and Cllr Jane Gartside with staff and learners at the Training @ Hopwood shop on Drake Street

The Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale recently popped in to Training @ Hopwood’s shop on Drake Street in Rochdale to meet with staff and learners and find out more about what opportunities and advice they offer to the unemployed in the community.

Cllr James Gartside and Cllr Jane Gartside met with a group of unemployed learners who, on the day, had just achieved their BTEC Edexcel Workskills qualification in Effective Team Working.

The learners had plenty of questions for the visiting dignitaries, including some about their role within the Borough. Then the tables were turned and the learners were quizzed about their recently acquired qualification, what they had been working towards and what their goals were.

Karen Humphreys, Contracts Manager, Programmes for the Unemployed and At Risk or Recently Made Redundant, said: “The Mayor seemed very impressed with what we do here at Training @ Hopwood, he told us to ‘keep up the excellent work’”.

She added: “The learners all enjoyed meeting the Mayor and Mayoress. They were really lovely and very interested to hear all about the learners’ studies and hopes for the future.

"The group were heard telling them that Training @ Hopwood has been fantastic, as well as enabling them to obtain a qualification, it has enhanced their job opportunities and provided help and guidance on securing a job. Many said it had also improved their social life as they’ve all become such good friends.”

All the learners that received the BTEC qualification have progressed on to further skills provision including basic IT covering email, word processing and how to use presentation software.

Some have now moved on to the Level 1 Workskills qualification in How to Manage Your Money and How to Manage Other People's Money and one of the learners has progressed to the BTEC Edexcel Level 1 Retail provision.