PRIME Minister Tony Blair made a flying visit to Preston this week before addressing union leaders at the TUC conference in Blackpool.
Mr Blair met apprentices and tutors at a training site for BAE Systems, at Wellfield Business Park, Marsh Lane, at 8am on Tuesday.
He was met by chairman Sir Richard Evans and spent about 30 minutes with the future plane makers as part of the Government's commitment to modern apprenticeships.
The centre has been labelled one of the top five work-based learning providers in Britain after scooping the Learning and Skills Council 'Centre of Vocational Excellence' award for its training programme which currently includes more than 1,000 trainees.
In the coming year the Preston training facility will now receive up to £300,000 to improve its training through capital investment and staff development.
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