A WOMAN who is learning computer skills at a centre in Northallerton has narrowly missed out on the first prize in a national competition.

Trudy Broxap, who lives at Holme-on-Swale, in North Yorkshire, was one of six Learn Direct students from across the country to reach the finals of the New Learner Award at the National Exhibition Centre, in Birmingham.

The finalists were chosen from thousands of learners on the basis of a 1,000-word story about how Learn Direct helped them.

Trudy, 39, a former product development manager with a confectionery firm, wrote how she and her partner, an engineer, decided to set up their own business.

She went to the Learn Direct unit, run by Northallerton College in the careers' centre, on the town's high street, and realised she would need to improve her computer skills.

Trudy is on her way to completing the European computer licence and is working on feasibility studies for Yorkshire Forward, which supports businesses.