Students at Northampton College have helped raise £1,500 for a county charity – with the money earmarked to help young people who look after their parents or grandparents.

Proceeds from ticket sales and programmes sold at end-of-year shows by musical theatre and arts students helped raise the huge total for Northamptonshire Carers.

The donation will be used to help fund a range of activities for young carers, such as workshops or respite sessions.

Global engineering giant Siemens has revealed it is ‘vital’ to keep feeding its talent pipeline with the best problem solvers from Northampton College as bosses look to plug the skills gap hitting the industry.

The commitment to apprenticeship schemes comes on the back of two Northampton College students winning the chance to spend time on work experience at Siemens base at the National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR) in Kings Heath, Northampton.

Level 3 Mechanical Engineering students Lewis Henry, aged 19, and 17-year-old William Dunkley will have the opportunity to impress managers at the pioneering facility and get fast-tracked to the apprenticeship assessment centre – where they can secure a permanent role working on the latest technology being rolled out across the railways.

Dance students from Northampton College will be showing off their moves having secured places at some of the country’s leading stage schools.

Kane Walcott and Cassie Dorrofield will be heading to London Studios Centre to study a BA (Hons) degree in Theatre Dance, while Kymara Williams has secured a place at the prestigious Bird College to study a Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre.

A Northampton College student has been given the chance to impress bosses at the F1 world champions having landed a week’s work experience for being crowned Student of the Year.

Mechanical engineering student James Collins will get the opportunity to work alongside some of the industry’s brightest brains at Mercedes’ Brixworth base this summer, and will also be fast-tracked onto their apprenticeship selection programme early next year.

The award vindicates the 28-year-old’s decision to leave his job as a petrol station supervisor and follow his dream of working in engineering.