Gloria De Piero’s MP column: The value of work experience cannot be underestimated

Sam Voisey, Paige Amos, Jade Keeling have all gained valuable experience over the last year and in the summer Alice Bates and Joe Parker will follow in their footsteps.

I’ve just had a great lad from Quarrydale called William Booth spend a week in the constituency office at the recommendation of his excellent headteacher, Jon Crone.

Will is really smart and his favourite subject is maths and when I asked him what he wants to do when he leaves school he said ‘be an MP’. Good on you Will. Politics needs people like you.

Some young people will be preparing for the start of their university adventures. It’s an exciting time but there will also be a bit of trepidation and the one thing that you don’t need beforehand is to be worrying about cash because Student Finance England aren’t doing their job properly. One student from Huthwaite found himself repeatedly hitting a brick wall when he tried to secure a grant which he was fully entitled to. As with a lot of these problems a simple letter from my office telling them to pull their socks up did the trick and the student can now relax over the summer holidays safe in the knowledge that his grant will arrive on time in September. However, I’m conscious there will be others out there who are having similar problems – if so just pick up the phone and let me deal with the stress.

The World Cup is over and England may have gone out with a whimper but I did receive some good news this week when the Football Foundation got in touch with me to tell me that two local teams have been handed grants.

Ashland Rovers FC has been awarded £1,500 and Beaufort UTD YFC £3,000 thanks to the ‘Grow the Game’ Scheme which provides grants for the creation of new football teams and coaching qualifications by using money from the Premier League and the FA. 

For more information go to - http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/ Another local team, Quarrydale United 12s are still desperately looking for a shirt sponsor for the start of the season.

I mentioned it a few weeks ago in a previous column but haven’t heard anything back, so if you are a local business there’s still a chance to back stars of the future. Get in touch with [email protected]. There’s a fair chance they’ll do better than the national team!