Other News In Brief

IFA Women's Domestic Manager Honoured By Northern Regional College

The Women's Domestic Manager of the IFA Foundation Gail Redmond has received an Honorary Fellowship from Northern Regional College.

Since joining the Association over 10 years ago, Glengormley native Gail has played a key role in the development of female participation in the game.

Primarily a midfielder, she was a standout player for the Golden Eagles and went on to feature as a stalwart for the Northern Ireland national team for six years.

Having worked across every area of women's football – from primary school coaching to Co. Antrim's programme co-ordinator to spending time as head coach for her US university – Gail has since risen to the role of Women's Domestic Manager for the IFA Foundation.

As the charity tributary of the IFA, the Foundation aims to develop amateur, youth, disability and schools' football. In this role, Gail strives to foster and grow the sport all the way from its grassroots right through to senior level.

Gail has maintained close links with the College as she built a career around her passion for football and now works endlessly to give the same opportunity to young people.

UFU Welcome Brexit Clarity Provided By General Election

The Ulster Farmers' Union has said the General Election provides long awaited clarity for farmers that Brexit will go ahead.has welcomed the clarity for farmers provided by the General Election.

The organisation welcomed the definitive direction the poll has Brough after farmers endured years of being plagued by doubt regarding Brexit.

The comments were made following Boris Johnson's re-election as Prime Minister with a substantial majority.

UFU president Ivor Ferguson said: "The outcome of the election has shown that Brexit will happen. For the first time in many years, our members have a bit of certainty as Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has made it clear that the UK will be leaving the EU on 31st January.

"Our key objective from day one was to avoid a no-deal situation and to secure trade that is as free and frictionless as possible east/west and north/south. Now going forward, it is important for Northern Ireland to be involved in the Brexit negotiations to ensure that the UK's exit from the EU supports agriculture and the food industry allowing it to thrive, and above all, the future prosperity of family farm businesses in Northern Ireland."

NI Contractor Supports Youth Employability With UK Sport Charity

A Northern Ireland-based contractor has joined forces with UK charity Street League to give young people employability support.

The 'sport for employment' charity targets sports to engage with young people, as well as teach them the key life and work skills they need to move into sustainable employment.

GRAHAM and Street League have joined forces to support the future careers of young people with newly established construction skills academies. This allows young people who access Street League's services to get motivated and informed about career pathways in the construction industry, providing sector specific employability advice. Each participant with an interest in a career in construction is given assistance by Street League to receive a Construction Skills Certification Scheme card upon completion – a national benchmark of the skills required to work on a construction site.

Under the latest phase of the programme, 16 young people completed two-week work placements on the state-of-the-art development of Meadowbank Sports Centre, which GRAHAM is delivering on behalf of City of Edinburgh Council.

Social Impact Manager, Debbie Rutherford, GRAHAM said: "Work placements and the promotion of skills has always been an extremely important part of GRAHAM's overall vision for Scotland, driving the creation of this partnership with Street League. We've developed a collaborative model which will give young people access to Street League's comprehensive employability training as well as specific hands-on construction experience at the Meadowbank Sports Centre site.

"We look forward to working with Street League across a number of different initiatives throughout the year– including fundraising and SVQs."



(JG)