A mother and daughter are on the road to success after completing a training course which combined the language of sunny Spain and the world of business.

Eleven students have finished a 31-week course funded by the European Social Fund, which included a ten-day trip to the Spanish capital Madrid. And the course, which gives an Oxford and Cambridge RSA Business Language Competence in Spanish qualification, looks set to be a stepping stone to further training and work.

Mother and daughter Susan and Kirsty Thompson, who both live on Woodside, attended together - while Kirsty's three-year-old daughter Jessica attended the creche provided at Beacon Enterprises in Buttershaw, Bradford.

For 43-year-old Susan, mum of three daughters in their 20s, this is the first qualification she has ever gained after years as a housewife.

"It was all absolutely new to me. I didn't know how to switch on a computer before I went. Now I'm hoping to get an office job," she said.

Daughter Kirsty, 21, was persuaded to attend the course by her mum. She has now gained the confidence to apply to the police to become a special constable, something she had wanted to do for years. "I loved the course. They made you feel so welcome and comfortable. I was nervous because I thought it would be hard but they helped you through it," she said.

The trip to Madrid was the first time Kirsty had been abroad. "It was brilliant. We had the confidence to speak Spanish and I learned more of the language in those ten days than in the classroom," she said.

Kirsty was also able to get on the course, which runs two days a week, because of the childcare available for daughter Jessica in a creche within the building.

Funding for Beacon Enterprises, which runs a variety of training and education, comes from Bradford's Training and Enterprise Council, Bradford Council, European funding and Royds Community Association.

Course co-ordinator Anne Magson said a new Spanish language course was about to start at the centre.

Graduates received their certificates from Buttershaw ward councillor Keith Thomson. He said: "It's a remarkable example of the fact that people can do far more than they believe they can. I'd like to say 'well done' to them in Spanish but I can't, so they know something I don't!"

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