A new training operation has risen from the ashes of one which was closed by Bradford supermarket chain Morrisons.

Havelock Training has been set up weeks after the Morrison Trust closed its Bradford division.

Tony Holdich, who was involved in running the Morrison Trust for a number of years before the firm decided to close it, has opened a new training company in offices within the Enterprise 5 supermarket and business centre in Idle, Bradford.

The new business also employs Claire Davis, who acts as administrator, and self-employed trainers who worked for the Morrison Trust.

It has already won three contracts from Bradford & District Training & Enterprise Council on behalf of the Employment Service. They are training for New Deal, Training for Work and Business Planner courses.

The trust created hundreds of jobs for jobless people from the day it opened its doors in 1988. It was started by Morrisons chairman Ken Morrison and has also put 100 people on the road to self-employment.

The Trust was run as a charity which was assisted financially through Morrison Training Ltd which carried out commercial training for firms in the district.

Mr Holdich said today that he believed the lump sum paid into the trust 11 years ago had almost dried up and the trustees were winding it up before the cash ran out.

Now Havelock Training has been allowed to operate as a private business in smaller offices below the ones once used by the Morrison Trust.

The new business has a large training room and two offices. It uses the Carlisle Business Centre in Manningham, Bradford, for its information technology training and other places, such as the city's Cedar Court Hotel, for other bigger training events.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.