Salvation Army celebrates 40 years of training courses

Local manager Don Robertson, left, and former television sports camera operator Bernie Cleal who is retraining to be a bus driver.

The Salvation Army has celebrated 40 years of offering Education and Employment and some high profile people helped mark the occasion in Northland.

Staff, tutors, graduates from the courses, business people who employ them, local dignitaries and high ranking national Salvation Army staff met in Whangārei for the significant milestone on Friday.

Among them were Gregory Fortuin, the national director for the Education and Employment, and Northland MP Shane Jones.

The Whangārei services put around 400 people a year into the workforce, preparing them through a range of pre-employment and training courses. Many businesses throughout Northland are signed up to take workers who have completed the courses.

As well as offering members of the public those training opportunities, the Salvation Army has contracts to provide pre-employment and other courses on behalf of various organisations, including the Ministries for Corrections and Social Development.

Speeches, including from Whangārei mayor Sheryl Mai, Gregory Fortuin and Shane Jones, were followed by afternoon tea and the cutting of a cake decorated with a 40th birthday message.