James heads off on African adventure

AN overheard conversation has led to the working holiday of a lifetime for Royton teenager James Cockayne.

The 18-year-old flies out to Ghana on Wednesday to help build a market and work with local children.

James, of Verney Road, has only been abroad once before, to Greece.

He will spend 10 weeks in Ghana, West Africa, after overhearing someone talking about the Platform 2 voluntary project while visiting Connexions Oldham, the advice service for teenagers.

It sends 18 to 24-year-olds to developing countries they would not normally get to visit and James asked his Connexions personal adviser for more details.

The former Royton and Crompton pupil explained: “We looked through the programme and how to apply and I decided I wanted to do it.

“I had been looking for work in Oldham after finishing school at 16. My GCSEs weren’t great and I wasn’t getting anywhere so decided to try this.”

James completed an on-line application form before being invited to attend a formal interview which lasted 90 minutes.

He then found out that he had been accepted, but had to wait to see where he would be going, and added: “I got a phone call a couple of weeks ago telling me I’d be going to do voluntary work in Ghana for 10 weeks. I’m so excited, I can’t wait to get there.’

His Connexions personal adviser Fran Maouati said: “James has done fantastically well to get on to this project.

“These opportunities don’t come along very often and it’s great to have someone from Oldham selected. The skills he will pick up from doing this work should set him up well to find a job on his return.”