Tomorrow’s People visit Shotton

Disadvantaged young people get inspiration for their futures at Northumberland surface mine

THE success of staff at Banks Mining’s Shotton surface mine, in Northumberland, has been held up as an example for local disadvantaged young people to follow during a charity-led visit to the site.

The north-east arm of employability charity Tomorrow’s People set up a visit to the mine for a party of young people from the Ashington, Alnwick and Morpeth areas, to allow them to find out more about the people who work there and how they have developed their careers at the site.

The visit formed part of the charity’s 10-week ‘Working It Out’ programme for unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds, which aims to give participants renewed confidence and motivation, and to prepare them for future work or training opportunities.

It was designed to open up an industry that is part of the young people’s regional heritage, but about which they might not know very much, and to also provide them with examples of people from their respective home areas who have built successful careers after coming into the business in junior positions.

The party heard presentations on Banks Mining’s operations at Shotton, the work done by the people based there, the ways in which the site is managed and restored, and how Banks work with local communities to ensure tangible benefits result from their presence in the area.

Over the last year, Tomorrow’s People has helped 99% of the local young people on its courses get into training, further education or employment, and Caroline Rogan, community liaison co-ordinator at the charity's Hadston office, in Northumberland, is hoping the Shotton visit will enable them to maintain this high success rate.

She said: ‘The young people with whom we work often come from very challenging backgrounds in very deprived areas, and they simply haven’t ever had the chance to learn and develop the personal skills and workplace behaviours that most of us take for granted.

‘Being able to speak directly to members of Banks’ Shotton team meant we were able to obtain information and answers that we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get, and it clearly showed the members of the party what sorts of lives they’d be able to build for themselves with the right attitude and application.

‘We had a brilliant response to the Shotton visit, with three people coming to see me the day afterwards to talk about how they might start to work towards applying for jobs there themselves, and it will hopefully provide some firm foundations on which everyone is able to build in the future.’

Jeannie Kielty, development relations co-ordinator at the Banks Group, who led the visit, added: ‘The Tomorrow’s People party were clearly fascinated by the breadth of our operations at Shotton and asked a lot of very pertinent questions about the different roles that our surface mines support in this area.

‘As one of Northumberland’s largest private-sector employers, it’s important for us to help local young people understand the opportunities that exist on their doorsteps, and we’ve had many excellent examples of staff working their way up through the business from the bottom into senior positions that our visitors can look to emulate.’