training schemes are all very well, but the system falls down when potential employers want people with actual experience of work.

Bolton WISE is, therefore, a welcome addition in the battle against long-term unemployment.

This new company, officially launched tomorrow, is not just another training firm. It provides contract work, training and a wage.

Partners in this new venture include Bolton Council, Bolton Bury Training and Enterprise Council, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bolton Community Homes.

As company chairman Cllr Guy Harkin recognised "for some unemployed people, a limited period of real employment focusing on individual training needs, is required to enhance long term employment."

It has always been unrealistic to expect someone who has been away from work for months or years to simply change overnight.

There is not only a different daily routine to being unemployed but a different outlook. And it is important that people are aided to change both, as well as upgrading vital skills.

Bolton WISE has been established for five months. General Manager Steve Bottrill has found that, even in a few short weeks, people have "shown renewed confidence, enthusiasm and a sense of control over their lives.'

If ever there was a chink in the gloom of unemployment, this kind of firm sounds like it. All involved are to be congratulated for their practical foresight and realistic approach.

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