STAFF at a council access point which has found jobs for 1,700 people has celebrated its eighth birthday in style.

The Brookhouse centre in Blackburn offers unemployed local residents guidance in finding work and education and training opportunities.

This year alone it has placed 295 people in work, carried out nearly 800 guidance interviews and has had more than 15,000 visits.

And it has recently found jobs for several asylum seekers who have settled in the area.

The access point is directed by Blackburn with Darwen Council's Education and Lifelong Department, and a spokesman said: "It continues to get increasingly busy every month. Its clients range from people with no qualifications and skills through to graduates."

The Brookhouse centre is set in the middle of an area where 85 per cent of the residents have an Asian heritage background.

It also offers them free stationery, telephones, fax, photocopying, postage, typing and even CV production, and has a popular internet facility.