TWO jobseekers have been given the chance to gain a firm foothold on the employment ladder at a popular music festival.

Karl Williams and Craig Robinson-Leigh will work as stewards at Glastonbury Festival after completing a course at training provider, The East Durham Employability Trust, in Peterlee, east Durham.

The pair, who took part in a two-day exercise on stewarding and event cover, will marshall thousands of festival-goers at the event in June, which includes headline acts The Rolling Stones.

They were encouraged to apply for the roles by trainer Jane Rishworth, and Mr Williams said: “When we found out we had passed the course we were both really pleased.

“We applied and got the job on the same day, and I'm so glad Jane gave us both the push we needed.”

Mr Robinson-Leigh said he was delighted to have been given the job, after suffering previous disappointment.

He said: “When you’re looking for work you get so many knock backs that you come to expect it, so when we got the offer, I was really shocked, and I can’t wait to get there.”

Bill Marley, chief executive of The Employability Trust said it only started training for the stewarding course last month.

He said: “We only got the funding to deliver the training in April and this was our very first course, so it's fantastic to get such a positive result so quickly.”