BURY-born Julie Edmondson has worked her way up a carefully chosen career ladder.

And now, she holds the prime position of training manager of The Training Company, based in Swinton.

After building her academic skills at Bury Church Secondary Modern School, Julie joined Sight and Sound Secretarial College in Manchester and in 1980 extended her stay by launching into an information technology (IT) training career.

She went on to gain experience in several management positions.

One of these posts entailed the introduction of IT with Bury-based Graham and Ormerod, now GOTech 2000.

Julie joined Salford-based KDL Training Ltd. In 1998, KDL Ltd was sold to Computerland.

However, the training arm was not included in the sale.

Julie says there was an opportunity to focus on offering training to local businesses and to work more closely with the region's Taining and Enterprise Councils. Hence, the beginning of The Training Company.

After being opened in March, the business is booming with Julie and her team working hard.

She said: "It's very exciting. The Training Company is an approved training provider for both Manchester Training and Enterprise Council and Bolton and Bury Chamber.

"The important link with our sister company, Linda Taylor Associates Recruitment Consultants, means that to date more than 300 people have been helped to update their IT skills and more than 60 per cent are now in regular employment."

Although based in Swinton, Julie's roots are firmly in the Bury area. Her parents and brother both live in the town while she and husband Stuart now live in Bradley Fold, Radcliffe.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.