FIVE Rossendale residents are celebrating getting new jobs despite the coronavirus crisis.

Since lockdown one person had got a job as a welder, another is a sales executive, one is a shop assistant and a fourth is a support worker and a fifth is a driver for Lancashire County Council.

They found their new careers through Rossendale Works, a Rossendale Council project, run in partnership with Active Lancashire and funded by the European Structural and Investment Fund.

Project manager Paul Becouarn said: “I have been running Rossendale Works by holding initial Zoom meetings with people who are ready for work and then arranging to meet them face-to-face, at a safe distance wearing a face mask, at their address for one-to-one support.

“When paperwork needs signing it has been delivered at a safe distance with me leaving it on a drive or path for the participant to sign and then I collect the papers.”

Rossendale Council leader Cllr Alyson Barnes said: “This project is amazing and has continued throughout the pandemic to support participants, help them see their potential and get back into work.”

On September 3 Rossendale Works meetings at The Boo, including yoga classes, and the breakfast club at Trinity Baptist Church in Bacup, are scheduled to reopen.