WHEN Robert Holgate was made redundant he thought he would never get another job.

The Atherton maintenance man had been out of work for over a year before a new chance came his way.

He completed four weeks training as a school caretaker in Atherton alongside the resident caretaker. Now he is working at various schools filling in for holidays.

Robert is one of 14 people, the majority over 50, who have been trained as caretakers through a successful partnership between the council's Metropolitan Training organisation and its Cleaning and Catering Service.

A year ago operations manager at MCCS, Ken Baxter, was having problems with recruitment.

However, after a meeting with the Metro training manager, Peter Forshaw, solved the problem by linking the work based learning programme with the MCCS recruitment drive.

The caretaking NVQ at level 2 was being developed as a pilot project at Frog Lane.

Robert said: "I was really surprised to get even an interview because I am over 50 and had been out of work for so long. However I did and I am really enjoying the job."

Mr Forshaw said: "We are delighted with these results because it is particularly hard for the over fifties to find work.

"I would encourage anyone who wants to find out about training to become a caretaker to contact us on 01942 827500 and ask for the marketing team."

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