YOUNG offenders working with disabled visitors to a Pendle activity centre will be presented with certificates for literacy, food hygiene and first aid during a ceremony at the centre on Friday.

Coldwell Activity Centre in the moors above Nelson is a unique initiative which aims to reduce crime by encouraging young offenders, most of whom are unemployed, to learn subjects while helping visitors, many of them disabled.

The idea is to provide the offenders with a better chance of getting a job and reducing the chances of them re-offending.

The centre is supported by Pendle Partnership, the local consortium of private, public and voluntary groups, the European Union and Lancashire Probation Service. Educational courses are run by Nelson and Colne College.

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