A young beauty therapist from York joined colleagues from across North Yorkshire in showing top directors from all over the country just what young talent can do for a business.

The six trainee therapists are all apprentices and were de-stressing delegates at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) conference in Harrogate, with a head and shoulder massage at the apprenticeships exhibition stand.

The six therapists, Gemma Garner, Alex Lancaster, Sam Lytollis, Holly Rawson, Joanna Waddington and Robyn Walsh, work for salons throughout North Yorkshire, and spend one day a week with Harrogate-based beauty therapy and hairdressing school Intuitions, which manages about 120 apprentices in its North Yorkshire salons.

With their tutor, Fiona Roy, the girls visited the exhibition to talk to delegates about the apprenticeship programme and to demonstrate the skills they are learning while working towards their National Vocational Qualifications Level 3 in beauty therapy.

Fiona said:" This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the value of apprentices to businesses and to show employers that they should look at training young people this way.

"Training is paid for, and tailored to business needs. At the same time employers are getting enthusiastic young people learning the latest ideas relevant to their particular profession and bringing these back to the business."

Apprentice Robyn Walsh, from Lanamiche salon in Little Stonegate, York, said: "I enjoy the combination of working in the salon and coming to Intuitions one day a week - it's great fun and good to meet up with the other girls. I'm gaining nationally recognised qualifications."

The Learning and Skills Council, the organisation that funds apprenticeship training used the prestigious CIPD event to promote apprenticeships to employers. There are 5,000 young people aged between 16 and 25 doing Apprenticeships in North Yorkshire.

Updated: 10:12 Monday, November 08, 2004