Students at a Workington college had the chance to find out more about career opportunities thanks to a skills fair.

Lakes College, at Lillyhall, held the event on Wednesday and companies such as Sellafield Ltd, Balfour Beatty, Jacobs, Morgan Sindall and Bell Care met with students.

Matthew Branthwaite, 19, currently studying a level three diploma in engineering, said: "It's quite useful, you can get information on different career choices and find out what you need to do for each one.

"I'd like to get into project management or project control, or maybe go to university if the chance comes up."

Heather Wilkinson, 18, who is studying for a level one childcare diploma, said: "It's very useful to find information on job opportunities within childcare."

Luke Garner, 17, who is studying for a level one diploma in joinery, said: "This event is really interesting, it gives me more information on apprenticeships, which is what I'd like to do with Sellafield."

Craig Carruthers, who was representing Sellafield at the event, said: "These events are useful because there's a young population all interested in different subjects. We offer 20 different apprenticeship schemes that range from two to four years and we're getting a lot of interest."

Daniel Braithwaite, Lakes College assistant principal, said: "I'm very pleased with the turnout of both students and businesses. This event gives the students an opportunity to speak to employers about the next steps in their education to develop their employability skills. It's a chance for them to understand what they need to improve and develop to be the next employee for these organisations. 

"From a learning prospective, the college aims to achieve that, but you need to work in partnership with the local businesses."