FOUR East Lancashire organisations have collected top honours in the North West training Awards 2003.

The North Lancs Training Group in Accrington, Burnley College, and Rossendale's Hazlewood Homecare and Headmasters Hairdressing were among the 20 regional winners. At a glittering awards ceremony at Manchester Town Hall, they collected their prizes from former cricket star and TV pundit, David Gower.

The chairman of UK Skills, Chris Humphreys, said the awards recognised outstanding achievement through training. "An increasing number of organisations in the North West are realising that investment in lifelong learning for their employees is crucial to business success," he said.

The North Lancs Training Group won its award for its own staff training programme that has led to it becoming one of the best centres in the UK. Its 100-strong workforce deliver training programmes to more than 2,000 young people every year.

Burnley College was honoured for its New Horizons programme, an IT skills course originally designed for the visually impaired but extended to other groups such as stroke victims, MS sufferers and people with hearing difficulties. Waterfoot-based Headmasters, the hairdressing business run by Christine Moffatt, embarked on a continuous training programme for her staff three years ago and is now recognised as an Investor in People and turnover has almost doubled.

The staff at Hazlewood Homecare help people live independent lives in their own homes in the remote rural areas of Rossendale. They make around 2,500 visits a week, providing personal, social and domestic care to clients of all ages.