22nd April 2008

A Glasgow woman is feeling sky high after winning a luxury spa day in a national balloon competition organised by Remploy, the UK’s leading provider of specialist employment services to people who experience complex barriers to work.

Linda Irvine from Bearsden was amazed to find her name had been picked out from all the returned entries. Her husband Michael found the balloon near their home and sent the tag back in Linda’s name. She was given a choice of fantastic prizes and opted for a pampering day at Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza hotel for herself and her mum.

“It’s not very often I’m lucky with this sort of thing so it’s lovely to win,” said Linda, who is a teaching assistant. “It was a real surprise when I got the call to say I’d been chosen. I’m looking forward to taking some time out to relax. Every woman deserves a bit of pampering!”

Balloons were launched from each of Remploy’s town and city centre recruitment branches in December to mark International Day of Disabled People. Thousands of balloons were released, each one representing a candidate who has found work through the branches in the last year. For every balloon tag found and returned to Remploy, a donation was made to national charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

The one Linda retrieved is thought to have travelled from one of her nearby Remploy branches, Dumbarton Road in Partick which launched 288 and Quarry Street in Hamilton which released 688.

Glasgow’s newest Remploy recruitment branch opened on St Vincent Street in the city centre on 10 March this year. With more than 57,000 people in the area receiving incapacity benefit or severe disability allowance, the branch aims to have a significant impact on the number of disabled people finding employment.

Branch manager Ahmed Yousaf was delighted to present Linda with her prize and gave her a tour of the branch to illustrate the services available to jobseekers – such as CV workshops, confidence building activities and interview techniques.

“It’s an exciting time for us in Glasgow,” said Ahmed. “Our new branch is in the heart of the city centre so we’re already attracting lots of interest. We’ve had our first successful job entrants and we’re starting to build strong relationships with local employers.”

Disabled job seekers interested in finding out more about Remploy’s services can contact the Glasgow branch on 0845 155 2586 or pop into the branch at 145 St Vincent Street between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

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