High five to the inspirational young people who are doing their hometown proud / Burnley Brand Manager Rachel Bayley

Glued to their phones? Expect everything on a plate? Want maximum money for little effort?

It’s all to easy to make judgements about young people, but there are plenty of examples of young people making waves in our borough, and they mean business. Take the example of Tom Keelings, a 23-year-old entrepreneur from Burnley who set up The Trainer Station.

You can find Tom on social media @tts_services and he specialises in the cleaning and restoration of caps, bags but mostly designer trainers. The idea being, it’s much more sustainable to look after your current clothing and footwear, but it will also save a lot of money getting them

cleaned rather than always buying new. Tom was recently interviewed by burnley.social and he told us: “Not everyone has the money for a

new pair of trainers every time they go wrong. My prices start from £25, which is a fraction of the price a new pair will cost. I’ll even restore unwanted trainers in my own time and take them to local charity shops.”

We’re really impressed by Tom’s ethos and it seems like many of you agree, with our burnley.social Facebook and Instagram posts about his story going wild. We’ve also had the pleasure of speaking to Hannah Kay, marketing and communications coordinator at Burnley Youth Theatre. Hannah is passionate about promoting the theatre, which does incredible work with young people in the borough.

She told us: “I never knew this would be a job I could have, I always thought I’d have to do this in a city like Manchester and it’s so rewarding I can do this in my town.”

You can watch the full interview with Hannah on the burnley.social social media. Another go-getting Burnley resident is Elly Littler, who’s been an apprentice with both +24 Marketing and currently with AMS Neve, the world-renowned sound engineers. Working at AMS Neve allows Elly to marry her two passions of music and marketing, all from Burnley.

She’s studied at Burnley College and is currently working towards a digital marketing degree apprenticeship with UCLan Burnley. Elly told us the fact she can both study and work in Burnley is great for work-life balance, as she previously thought she’d have to undergo a long commute to get the qualification and career she wanted. Again, you can see our full video interview with Elly online.

These are just three examples of young people in Burnley working hard to achieve their dreams and we know there are plenty more examples of determined talent here. The Burnley.co.uk YouTube channel is full of case studies, so if you’re from Burnley and want to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders, please do share their stories far and wide and keep cheering