BURY College has won a record £700,000 from the European Social Fund to run training initiatives for local businesses and people.

The money will help to fund training for both employed and unemployed residents who wish to improve their skills.

Other initiatives will help Bury's small companies recruit new graduates and help women back to work after bringing up a family.

Some of the funding has been won by working in partnership with Bury Council.

Many of the projects involved links with neighbouring colleges in North Manchester and Lancashire. Principal Dr Helen Gilchrist said: "This is a marvellous achievement for the college and an indication of how highly our bids for training support are regarded in the European Community.

"We are confident the investment will do much to support the local economy and boost the skills and qualifications of a large number of people."

Seven projects will create a total of 150 new training places for jobless residents, and a further seven schemes will provide training places for 270 Bury employees.

The European funding will also support a project called ADAPT/UFI which will set up a call centre run by Bolton and Bury Chamber of Commerce.

This will offer a free-phone service for local people to find out about training opportunities in their area.

The call centre will liase with colleges and a team of researchers will monitor the calls to identify any training needs that are currently not being met.

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