Provost Winifred Sloan welcomed a group of eleven Finnish visitors, who are participating in the European funded Equal Employability Development Partnership project, to the Town Buildings in Ayr and told them about the attractions and benefits of South Ayrshire.

After meeting the visitors Provost Sloan said: “The Council is supporting the project by renting a café, that was part of the Horticultural Centre in Craigie Park in Ayr, to Ayr College for use during the project. In addition the Council is involved in partnership work developing projects under EQUAL to be based in the Carrick Buildings’ Learning Centre in Girvan.

“Unemployment is something that concerns everyone around the globe, and any innovative ways which can be found to increase the employability of the long term unemployed will be of great value.

“It was my pleasure to tell the Finnish visitors about South Ayrshire, and I hope that when they return home they will act as ambassadors for the area, and encourage friends, relatives and business colleagues to visit.”

Ayr College is lead partner for the Equal Employability Development Partnership, which is a European community initiative that is funded under the EQUAL programme. Equal Employability in Scotland has 13 partners from Scotland involved in the partnership and three from Europe.

The aim of the EQUAL programme is to develop innovative methods of increasing the employability of disadvantaged groups, and to develop innovative methods that will work transnationally. EQUAL is working with partners in Lithuania and Finland.

Provost Winifred Sloan is pictured with the Finnish visitors and representatives from Ayr College within the Town Buildings in Ayr.

January 2006