FIVE young women from Gwynedd have all landed permanent jobs at a Caernarfon dementia care centre of excellence ,which hosted the life-changing training course they took part in.

Becky Ward, 26, Roxanne Aston, 20, Ellen Robinson, 28, Kelly Thomson, 30, and Emma Fozzard, 26, will all soon be part of the team at Bryn Seiont Newydd.

The group of five became enrolled on the Into Health and Social Care course run by a partnership between the Prince’s Trust charity and the award-winning Pendine Park care organisation.

Th course was aimed at young people aged 18-30 from the Caernarfon and Bangor area who were NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training.

At a special ceremony in the home’s purpose-built music room, the five women received their graduation certificates alongside praise from their course leaders.

Becky Ward, from Carmel near Caernarfon, described how despite acquiring a number of child care qualifications she had not managed to get a job after a couple of years of trying.

She said: “I must have sent out around 30 applications to nurseries and schools, but I was unsuccessful every time.

“I was starting to feel very depressed about it, but thankfully I was eventually selected for the Prince’s Trust course.

“Thanks to being on the course I’ve now been lucky enough to get a permanent job at Bryn Seiont as a care practitioner, which is just amazing.”

Fellow new recruit Kelly Thomson, from Mynydd Llandygai, near Bangor, said: “When I was selected for the course I was delighted because I’ve always wanted to care for people.

"I have had some practice after looking after a son and a daughter aged three and seven.

“The course was an amazing experience, taught me a lot and has given me much more confidence in myself."

Manager of Bryn Seiont Newydd, Sandra Evans, was delighted that all five people on the course had been given jobs at the home.

“It was a brilliant experience for everyone and all those on the course were so enthusiastic,” she said.

“They are all going to be a real asset to us and are just the sort of people we need in a caring environment such as ours.

“We often find that, after benefitting from our high quality training programme, people with no previous experience can end up making the best carers.”