Youngsters left in lurch after job charity folds

London-based Tomorrow’s People, set up over 30 years ago to help youngsters into work, training and education, announced the closure of all its programmes last Monday.

Staff at the Galashiels branch, which has supported almost 70 people in the Borders in the last year, said they were devastated by the news and vowed not to go down without a fight.

A statement on its Facebook page said: “We are looking at all our options with a view to adapting and evolving the Borders project.”

Kirsty Anderson, deputy manager of the charity’s shop in Channel Street, said: “It’s left everybody in shock.

“We were told on the fifth that Tomorrow’s People were finishing but we were hoping another charity would take it on.

“All the young people were sent home on Thursday because there was no petty cash for them to do anything.

“We have had them in tears in here. A lot of them felt this was their last chance to find work.”