Martin Salter, Member of Parliament for Reading West, today joined gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir John Madejski at the John Madejski Academy to launch the ‘Get on Track’ initiative in Reading. The project, headed by the double Olympic champion, will allow young unemployed people in Reading to enhance their chances of obtaining employment, developing life skills and fulfilling their sporting potential. Local employers and organisations present at the launch were asked to pledge support for young people and for the project. Mr Salter offered to organise announced he would be running a Communications Workshop to help youngsters learn how to get their message across.

The Get on Track project, part of the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust, has already inspired young people across other areas of the UK to find and fulfil their potential in sport or in the workplace through its workforce of elite sports performers. In these challenging times, there is an even greater need to give young people belief and a vision to succeed. Through innovative projects and programmes delivered by its team of elite sports men and women It aims to provide young people with the necessary skill base to enter the very competitive labour market. It helps young people to participate, stay in and excel in sport; and, help disadvantaged young people to find and believe in their own talents.

Mr Salter said:-

“It was fantastic to join Dame Kelly and Sir John at the John Madejski Academy In my constituency to launch this exciting new project for people in Reading. I am very much looking forward to being part of the Get on Track project and to meeting the young people who would like to learn something new and improve their chances of finding a job at such a difficult economic time. Young people make up over a quarter of all claimants of Job Seekers Allowance in Reading. This and other community based work such as this set up by Dame Kelly will undoubtedly begin to make a huge difference to this very worrying statistic”.