MORE than 150 people visited Launceston Town Hall on Friday, May 17, to attend a jobs fair set up by MP for North Cornwall Scott Mann in collaboration with Job Centre Plus and the town council.

The event was free to attend and a variety of stalls lined the room with opportunities for those looking for work; a career change; in need of some help in writing a CV, and even advice for dealing with money worries, to speak to advisors and get some more information and support.

On the day, the Post attended to see what it was all about. Event co-organiser Katherine Davey, employer advisor for Job Centre Plus covering Launceston and Bude, said: “The local MP’s office contacted us about doing something positive in the town, so we came up with this community jobs fair and got support agencies and businesses working together.”

The Job Centre offers similar events on a smaller scale but were delighted to be able to bring more opportunities to the masses at this event.

The businesses and groups in attendance included: Volunteer Cornwall, Imployable, Bowden Derra Park Ltd, PLUSS, Hartley Homecare, Livewell Southwest, Dunbia, Access Training, Kernow House, Driver Hire (Plymouth and Cornwall), Alternative Recruitment, CORSERV, Army, Danish Crown, V Learning Net, Glendale, LIDL, Bodmin Army Reserve Centre, Cornwall Care, Cornwall CAB, Job Centre Plus, Carers Break Community Interest Company, John Guest, Launceston College, Care Workforce, Proud to Care, A S Recruiting Ltd, United response East Cornwall, Cornwall Housing, Newcross Health Care, Education Development Trust, Complete Care & Support, Duchy College, Shirley Vanstone, HF Trust and Pentreath.

Katherine said: “There is a lot of care work available at the moment but among that you have jobs with organisations like Cornwall Care for caretakers — there really is a mix.

“Aside from the care sector we have representatives in retail, plumbing temp jobs — these are especially important as you never know where a temporary job can lead, often to full time employment — there is also an opportunity to get into arboriculture with Glendale as well as an Army recruitment stand and careers advisors etc.”

During his opening speech, Mr Mann had recognised the impact the closure of Kensey Foods, one of Launceston’s largest employers, has had on the area’s job market, and Katherine said: “I cover Launceston and Bude. Bude’s jobs market is seasonal whereas Launceston’s is more static. We don’t see peeks and troughs here like we do in Bude which can make it difficult for those looking for work.

“There have been a number of redundancies because of the closure of Kensey and although some have already found alternative employment it has still had a big impact on the community. This event is not just aimed at those employees from Kensey but the whole community — it is important that we provide support for all whilst they look for job opportunities.”

Those that attended the event came from all walks of life — those looking for new employment, a career change or support with financial worries. Among those in attendance was a team from Kensey Foods, which is set to close later this year. The team are working hard to ensure their colleagues are given the best chances to find new employment and took full advantage of this free event. June Gaggini, training manager at Kensey Foods, said: “Our colleagues are our top priority and we are doing all we can to support them find new employment. We will be holding our own jobs fair in June and we have some of these businesses attending but we have come along today to see if there are any we have missed and look more into the financial support in the area.

“It isn’t just employment, it is all the little things like housing and financial worries, mortgage worries etc. and there are several organisations here today for people to speak to.

“We have some terrific staff members who are well trained and have a lot to offer and any support we can provide we will — but this is amazing, it is great to have an event like this. It’s a really close community.”

The initiative was spear headed by North Cornwall’s Conservative MP Scott Mann who said he was ‘delighted’ with how the event had turned out.

Mr Mann told the Post: “Following the sad news of the Kensey Foods redundancies and at a time when politics was so very divisive, I wanted to do something positive to help.

“I asked Rachel [Beadle] to call the Job Centre in Launceston and she got in touch with Katherine who we have worked with in collaboration to set up this event.”

Mr Mann said the team contacted 40 businesses and support services and pulled them together to create the event. He continued: “We wanted to showcase what’s on offer in the Launceston area. I want to say a special thanks to Launceston Town Council who have supported this event by providing us with the town hall for no charge. It is a wonderful collaboration between those in the town and I am pleased with how popular it has proven to be — you hope these events will be successful and I am optimistic that people will find things of interest here throughout the day.”

Looking towards the future Mr Mann said he was keen to see the event become an annual occurrence, with scope for an even wider variety of services to be provided: “It would be great to bring in more skills, like rewriting CVs and upping skill levels. I am delighted with how this event has come together. At a time when politics is so divided, when you boil that away there are still 68,000 individuals in North Cornwall who all want help and that is what today is all about — helping them get the skills they need to move fluidly through the job market.

“It is a great feeling to see so many employers and services coming together in the local community to support the town and I hope the rest of the day is as successful.”