Ex-miner Dean shares in re-training milestone

Dean Roach, aged 47, of Highbridge Close, met Barnsley Mayor Coun Len Picken after completing the Skillsbuilder project which finds full-time jobs for workers made redundant at the region’s mines, the Prince of Wales Colliery in Pontefract, the Selby mine complex and the Harworth and Rossington collieries near Doncaster.

Steve King, of Skillsbuilder, said: “We are not just helping ex-miners but their families as well. They can then put money back into communities instead of being unemployed and taking it out.”

Simon Howe, the first graduate of the Skills-U-Build project, also received a certificate. Skills-U-Build is for people aged between 16 and 24 who want to retrain to work in the construction industry.

The Skillsbuilder project is funded by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and run by Barnsley Community Build.