You can’t build a career in Burnley | Rachel Bayley column

Over at Burnley. co.uk and burnley.social, we’ve been interviewing an array of individuals who have #madeitinburnley.

From aerospace engineers and world-renowned music producers to property developers and business development managers, we’ve shone the spotlight on just a tiny handful of people who have built a successful career for themselves right here in Burnley.

One of the people we met is Joe Clegg, a music producer and drummer who worked with Ellie Goulding for 12 years and has also worked alongside the likes of Bastille and Mumford and Sons.

Joe studied music at college and one day hopped on a Stagecoach from Burnley down to London for an audition. He got the job and spent the next 12 years as Ellie’s musical director and drummer, all whilst being based with his young family in Lancashire.

Joe told us: “I presumed as a young musician, unless you’re in London, you wouldn’t get an opportunity like that…I then understood that the industry is based upon people who are all over the world, let alone all over the country, so it doesn’t really matter where you live.

“I use Lancashire as a base for driving to the airport and flying to LA, New York, Sydney and then come back to my life here. I love it here…it made it easier for us to get on to the property ladder which we wouldn’t have been able to do at the time in London.”

We also met Emil Khan, principal engineer at aerospace company Velocity Composites. Emil lives in Chorley and admits he was unaware of just how huge the aerospace industry is in Burnley.

“It’s great working in Burnley, people are very welcoming and hardworking, they have a good work ethic.”

He told us how Burnley growing as a university town is brilliant for recruitment into advanced manufacturing and engineering. Emil himself graduated from UCLan with an engineering degree.

And in his spare time, he competes in Ironman competitions and enjoys keeping fit, with plenty of local places to run, bike and swim.

I really would encourage you to head over to the Burnley.co.uk and burnley.social websites and social media channels to discover the array of people we’ve interviewed and just how many incredible sectors have a base in Burnley.

We need to inspire our children to discover what’s on their doorstep in terms of careers and that they can start on that path whether through work experience, an apprenticeship or a degree from UCLan or Burnley College University. Of course, this benefits us all.

The aspirations of young people are raised, our businesses have a skilled workforce to draw upon and our young people can build a career for themselves in whatever that may be.

They spend their hard-earned money in our town centres, potentially buy affordable property and start a family here and the cycle continues. And a prosperous Burnley benefits us all.