WEST Craven county councillor Keith Bailey wants Barnoldswick’s high school and technology college to be one of the first to open its doors to ex-service personnel.

Coun Bailey has been at the forefront of developing the £3million Lancashire County Council project, which aims both to inspire young people and to give ex-service personnel the chance to retrain and apply their skills and dedication as mentors in the classroom.

He said: “This is a fantastic project and has my full support.

“Ex-service personnel have excellent transferable skills and we at the county council would like to offer as many opportunities as possible for those men and women who have served their country so well.”

The mentors will take up their posts in January supporting pupils between the ages of 14 and 16 to improve their achievement in class and their attendance at school, and to reduce the number of pupils who are excluded.

The decision to recruit the mentors was made by Lancashire County Council in October 2012, with the first year of this five-year programme being run as a pilot project, Pendle being one of only two districts to benefit during this time.